“Black power is giving power to people who have not had power to determine their destiny.” – Huey Newton 

During the month of February, also known as Black History Month, the school’s Black Student Union (BSU) celebrated important people in black history. BSU, not only throughout this month but throughout the school year, makes it their duty to educate people on discrimination, oppression and overall history of African Americans. 

This month began with special education assistant and BSU advsier Mr. Kevin Garland hanging outlines of important black figures such as Martin Luther King Jr., Barack Obama and Maya Angelou. Each of these outlines states descriptions of what great things these people have done and their biographies. 

Walking in the halls, you can see collages displayed of “Black Political Leaders,” “Strong Black Women,” etc. These represent the people who are not normally talked about in the school. “In class we learn about people like Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, we wanted to educate people on others that are just as important,” said junior BSU member Chloe Panicker. 

“I feel like they bring a bit of diversity into this school, they also help bring knowledge and insight on black history,” said sophomore BSU member Katelyn Santiago. 

On Monday, Feb. 24, BSU participated in World Cafe along with people from No Place for Hate, Gay Straight Alliance (GSA), Women’s Studies, Muslim Student Cultural Association (MSCA), Jewish Student Union (JSU), Latin Student Association (LSA), Asian Student Association (ASA) and other selected school leaders.

World Café took place at the Horsham Community Center from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event was led by Principal Williams. He discussed the changes in the school including the 30 new flags posted in the main entrance to represent the diverse culture of the students here. The students began with getting to know one another with games such as keeping a balloon up without hands.

The World Café was an opportunity for these affinity groups, or groups in the school that have common interests, to discuss their roles in the building and “dialogue about their experiences at Hatboro-Horsham High School” as stated on the letter to the invited people.

“I liked it because it was a great opportunity for everyone to show their ideas. It helps the school and administrators to know how to better the school and gave the students a say,” said sophomore Mahdia Ahmed. 

The mission was to have a safe space for mature conversations about our school being more culturally aware, accepting of differences and developing an understanding of diversity within our school. 

Mr. Williams explained that students would go around and talk about different prompts at different tables. Each table chose a leader who wrote the gist of what the table talked about; the table then went to another table, but left the leader. The leaders would stay and appoint a new leader to take the notes and the rotation would continue. 

“It was fun to talk about discrimination between men and women and between race and getting to talk to people we would never talk to. We based conversations off of understanding one another’s place. The people there understood because we had common ground,” said sophomore Victoria Donaldson.