Students have become the backbone of educating, representing and celebrating Black History Month at Greeley West High School.
A committee of seven student council members leads Black History Month efforts at Greeley West each February. Lea Sanford, who runs the student council, has stepped back to provide her students with space to take charge of organizing monthlong celebrations of Black history, heritage, culture and more.
“I just feel like I have a voice in the school,” sophomore Sophia Vasquez said. “A lot of times, it’s easy to feel like you’re not included in your community.”
The students have various accounts about what Black History Month means to them.
For Black students such as Omari Edwards, a senior student council representative, Black History Month pays homage to his ancestry. The month also brings representation into their school, making Black students feel advocated for, recognized and included, according to Zanayah Shanks, senior student council president, and Brooklyn Tinnin, a senior committee chair for Black History Month.
Vasquez, a white student, said Black History Month is a time for her to learn and gain new perspectives from other cultures and races.
But the students all come together with the same goal they aim to capture when planning events for the annual observance: to recognize Black students and educate fellow students on the importance of the month.
“It’s a good opportunity to make others, not only Black students, comfortable because it shows that my school really cares about my culture, they care about the people who are here,” Edwards said. “They give us the time and space to demonstrate those things.”
Daily celebrations throughout February include playing music from popular Black artists during the mornings, delivering facts about Black History Month during the announcements and leading Black History Month trivia during assemblies.
Black History Month can get brushed over, Edwards said, so he finds having repetition with everyday celebrations a nice way to show the significance of the month. The students also bring more than just history and facts to the table, they incorporate pop culture and stories of influential Black people, he added.
“It’s really important to be a part of a committed community that you feel seen and acknowledged in,” Tinnin said. “You feel like when you walk the halls of the school, you’re not just overlooked.”
Once a week throughout the month, the committee also recognizes a Black student who shows excellence inside and outside the classroom with a “Student Spotlight.”
Edwards hopes students will see that student council members work hard to ensure everyone feels recognized and included at Greeley West.
“What I want them to take away is, ‘We love you,’” Edwards said, on behalf of the student council.
Shanks has personally enjoyed seeing the “big changes” made in the way the community of Greeley honors Black History Month, such as the Greeley-Evans District 6 Board of Education accepting a proclamation for the observance. The group of students will also have the chance to converse with city officials about accepting a citywide proclamation.
