Ritenour students and staff celebrated Black excellence with a variety of classroom and school-based activities throughout the month of February as part of Black History Month.

In addition to classroom activities and presentations in each of Ritenour’s schools, students have been engaged by guest speakers and have had Black History-themed spiritwear weeks that reflect Black culture, Historically Black Colleges and famous African Americans. A few Ritenour schools are showcasing their students’ talent and creativity with performances during the last week of February.

Ritenour’s youngest scholars at the Ritenour School for Early Childhood Education are getting a good glimpse of Black excellence with creative door decorations.

Marvin Elementary took door decorating to another level by ensuring that Black excellence was represented with every letter of the alphabet, from A about Aaron Douglas and Maya Angelou to Z about Zora Neale Hurston. An informative slide show highlighted each person depicted on all of the doors.  
 

Buder and Marion elementary schools have showcased Black history with Read-Ins that invited African Americans from a variety of career paths to read some of their favorite books to students. The guest readers are sharing a little about their career, reading a children’s book about characters of color, and then asking questions about the reader’s career field or about the book.

“We want to elevate the normalcy of Black excellence so that our students recognize that the people they see every day in the community are doing great things and making a positive impact,” said Marion Principal Bilal Ewing.


Students at Hoech and Ritenour middle schools have led morning announcements throughout February that highlight music by famous Black musicians and other trivia. In addition, Hoech students created a Building History Together mural with individual brick artwork that reflected Black culture and pride.


Iveland students will present a performance that includes poetry, songs, and narration about famous African Americans on Feb. 21 at Ritenour High School. Buder’s students will finish the month with their Black history program in their gym on Feb. 28.

The Game Changers at Ritenour High School have sponsored a Black History Month spirit week that ends on Feb. 24 with a student-led program at 6 p.m. in Ritenour Auditorium. The program is open to the public.