Mrs. Washington, a 6th grade teacher and Peer Leader advisor, produced a black history month assembly in Woodbridge Middle School.

Putting everything together ”made [her] feel warm” It was very exciting for her to put something together like this.

Sam Morel is a 7th grade cheerleader that took part in the black history month assembly. She said she was “definitely nervous” the first time she performed, “It was nerve racking the first time going up on stage”.

She said she was overthinking everything. Which was an issue for performers and she was questioning herself if “she was going to mess up her stunts”.

Mrs. Washington, the organizer of the assembly, said she wanted to bring a Black History Month assembly to WMS because “it’s important for society to understand the influential African Americans.”

She said it would have been better “with all the grades and all the middle schools together for the society to see.”

Mrs. Washington, the peer leader advisor, started practicing every two weeks in December for the assembly to decide who would play who. It must have been difficult because there were a lot of people taking part in the assembly.

Mrs. Washington said if she could talk to any of the historical figures that they spoke about in the Black History Month assembly it would be Maya Angelou because “she stood strong and had a positive influence on people.” Another person she would bring back is Martin Luther King Jr. because ”he made a change in people ‘s lives.”

What Morel would do differently is ”not get so upset about her stunts because while they were practicing their stunts were not going up.”

The cheer leading made the Black History Month assembly more interesting from her perspective. Some more details are the music and the stunts that the cheerleaders performed.

She said she “feels like if they would have put the whole 6th, 7th and 8th grade together it would have been better; the crowd would have been louder.”

Dorcas Amusa is a 7th grade student participating in the Black History Month assembly that was a historical figure.

While she was performing she was ”proud of [herself] and also nervous and relieved.”

The best part for Amusa was performing the classroom introduction. And practicing wasn’t that bad for her since she got to meet new people. Even though they were being silly they still got to have some fun. Laughing with each other when they made mistakes.

The famous person she would want to meet is Maya Angelou because “she loves her poems and she’s a good person.”

Veronica Diaz is an 8th grade student who took part in the Black History Month assembly that was also a historical figure; she played Ella Fitzgerald. Diaz said it was “kind of nervous” for her to perform on stage, but she liked being on stage and she enjoyed it.

One of her favorite performances was the classroom introduction. Diaz added, “The best part about performing was connecting with people in the audience.”

Diaz would meet Maya Angelou if she could choose one historical figure “because she is really inspiring and I love her personality.”

She would have also wanted to do the slides if she could have.

Ogechi Madueke , a 6th grade student that also played in the Black History Month assembly, represented poet, Amanda Gorman.

Madueke took part in this assembly because it’s “[her] background” and she thought it was a good idea to participate in it. She also wanted to do closed and open curtains.

Mostly everyone wanted to meet Maya Angelou, but Madueke chose someone different. She picked Sojourner Truth as her historical figure to meet.

For Madueke the only audience she was nervous about was 6th grade because she knew everyone. The 7th and 8th grade audience wasn’t “that bad” for her because she didn’t really know anyone so it wasn’t as nerve racking. She enjoyed the stage though.

Destinee Irizarry is an 8th grade student that was in the audience. Her favorite performance was the classroom introduction because the performance made her “feel good. It was fun to watch.” She said she enjoyed and remembered it when they started speaking for the Black History Month assembly people.

Irizarry said she liked everything about the assembly, but particularly liked the cheerleaders part in the assembly. Irizarry added that she would want to see more assemblies because she “gets out of class.”

Kamia Jones is a 6th grade student who was in the audience and enjoyed the assembly.  She explained, “In the beginning of the assembly there were the Peer Leaders and the kick out of the classroom part where they got kicked out. Also, cheerleaders were there and the choir performed a couple songs.” But her favorite performance was the Peer Leaders.

Jones remembered the game they played in the assembly when they tried to find the HBC where students guessed which celebrity or public figure came from a historically black college or university.. She said she would want to see more assemblies because they are entertaining to her. Jones also said, “I liked everything about the assembly”.