On Monday, Feb. 13, York did something that they have never done before during Black History Month. A handful of students, with the help of the World Language Department, put on a dinner honoring Black heritage. The inspiration for this event came from the success from the Hispanic Heritage Dinner in November.

The dinner celebrated Black history with amazing food and music all relating to Black culture, and the success of the event was a result of tremendous dedication by the those who planned it. With the support of Mrs. Jessica Nall, chair of the World Language Department, two students, Senior Emmanuel Utomi and Junior Aquena Thomas, led the charge for the event.

“The whole idea behind this event is to just celebrate the Black community we have at our school,” Thomas said.

 Not only are students happy to celebrate the community, but they want to make sure their voices are heard.

“There is not a lot of us here, but there are enough of us that I feel like we should have a voice here,” Utomi said.  

In addition to speeches by Utomi and Dr. Margaret Harrell, member of the District 205 Board of Education,  Senior Jeremiah Miller performed gospel music for the event. Miller has been involved in York’s music department for four years and has songs available for download on iTunes.

“I am really honored they asked me to come here and play music for  this event,” said Miller. “What the students are doing for Black History Month is really important because all of the different races and everyone at York needs something to call their own.”

Mrs. Nall, who assisted the sutdents with planning, was really impressed by the care they took to make sure the event honored Black heritage without becoming too political.

“My favorite part of this whole process was watching the students most closely involved evolve in terms of their opinions on how the dinner should go and what the purpose was,” Nall said. “When we first started they made it clear that they did not want it to be political in any way, and they just kept explaining that they wanted it to be as far from #BlackLivesMatter as possible. But the closer we got to the night of the dinner, the more they recognized how essential it really is to have something that allows African American students to feel like they are celebrated.”

After the success of the event, the students and staff involved hope that this will continue as a yearly tradition every.