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Photos & Story By Anna Ingalls
The Black History Expo: Learning Through Literature was the title of this year’s Black History celebration observed in February at Patch Elementary School on Panzer Kaserne. Students enjoyed a two-day expo with teachers reading books and facilitating learning activities with each book. The children were exposed to black history through a variety of genres such as African and African-American folktales, biographies, autobiographies, and poetry. The activities ranged from tasting soul food, African drum circles, to creating wind turbines in the STEM lab.
Students recreated events from the stories they heard like dancing to the beat of Zomo’s drum, or writing their own poetry inspired by the stories they read or heard during the expo. Students eagerly participated and were totally engaged at the variety of stations they attended during the two day expo. On the third and final day, the culminating activity for the Black History Month celebration was a school-wide assembly held Feb. 27, where Col. El Gardner, Missile Defense Agency liaison, U.S. European Command, attended as the featured guest speaker. Gardner spoke to students about the importance of education and perseverance to achieve one’s goals and dreams.
During the assembly, the student body sang and moved to a traditional African-American folk songs. Student received awards for the art and literature contest that was open to submissions through the month of February.
Art Contest Winners
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Literacy Contest Winners |
| Kindergarten-1st grades | Kindergarten-1st grades |
| 1st Place: Riley Edwards | 1st Place: Elaina Sheleleton |
| 2nd place: Dominic Cardoni | 2nd place: Malachi Roca |
| 3rd place: Andrew Budrejko | |
| 2nd – 3rd grades | 2nd – 3rd grades |
| 1st place: Morgan Pierce | 1st place: Ethan Karim |
| 2nd place: Lana Hyde | 2nd place: Kyra Butler |
| 3rd place: Rowan Blazer | 3rd place: Morgan Pierce |
| 4th – 5th grades | 4th – 5th grades |
| 1st place: Camille Wallace | 1st place: Elijah Carmichael |
| 2nd place: Christon Jones | 2nd place: Vincent Becker |
| 3rd place: Christian Howard | 3rd place: Camille Wallace & Caralin Wastila |