LIFE in the classroom: Cromwell High School celebrates Black history

by Mark Jahne

Editor

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Music, poetry and displays were all part of the annual Black History celebration held at Cromwell High School the evening of Feb. 26. This was the fourth year such an event took place.

“It’s a districtwide event,” Rashida Edans said.

She is town’s coordinator for the Open Choice program that enables Hartford students to attend Cromwell schools. The Hartford Public Schools pay for each student in this program, which dates from 1966 and was originally called Project Concern.

Edans said students at Edna C. Stevens School did a schoolwide project related to this theme. Each class at Woodside Intermediate School took its own approach. The middle school held a door decorating contest and the high school hosted this townwide event, as well as conducted class projects.

“It’s the time to celebrate and highlight people in history” with a cultural flair, she said.

“It’s been really wonderful to see it grow to where it is now,” Principal Andrew Kuckel said. “Every department does something.”

He particularly likes that the evening highlighted the contributions of Black people to science and the arts.

“Cromwell High School has mixed demographics. It’s what makes our high school special. We have a wide range of races, ethnicities, religions,” he added. CL