On Monday night, the Cherry Hill African American Civic Association honored this year’s participants in its annual Essay, Poster and Video contest. The participants’ work was on display at the library during the event.
What do Michael Jackson, Josephine Baker, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and Maya Angelou have in common?
They were just some of the historical figures featured this year in the Cherry Hill African American Civic Association’s Essay, Poster and Video Contest.
On Monday, CHAACA held a special reception at the Cherry Hill Public Library for all students who participated in the contest.
Students in all grade levels of Cherry Hill Public Schools were invited to create an essay, poster or video around an African-American historical figure. This year’s topic was African-Americans in the arts and entertainment industry born before 1960.
Students had to turn in their projects by the end of January. During Black History Month in February, a panel of judges chose winners at all grade levels. The winners were announced at the end of February, and all participants were honored during Monday’s reception.
This was the third year CHAACA has held the contest. In the past two years, students did projects on African-American inventors and sports figures. CHAACA partners with the library and school district to run the contest each year.
Cathy Jenkins, the chairperson of the contest for CHAACA, said the projects are becoming more detailed and creative with each passing year.
“What we are doing with our children is having them be our teachers,” Jenkins said. “They’re learning about African-American contributions.”
Many of the students, such as Rosa International Middle School eighth grader Michela Anguadro, created posters for the contest. Michela made a poster featuring artist Faith Ringgold. Her poster included a combination of facts about Ringgold and examples of Ringgold’s most famous works. Michela’s poster won first place for the eight-nine grade level.
“It’s so cool how she could do all of these paintings,” Michela said about Ringgold.
Many students focused not just on their figure’s accomplishments in the arts, but also on their impact on world history. Kyra Washington of Barton Elementary School won third place in the four-five grade level for her poster on actress Josephine Baker. Kyra focused not just on Baker’s acting career, but also how she helped the French resistance during World War II.
“I saw that she was a very kind and generous woman,” Kyra said.
Kalise Green, a seventh-grade student from Beck Middle School, decided to go a different route for her project. Green wrote an essay on author and poet Maya Angelou, saying she found Angelou’s life story inspirational.
A few students, such as Nnemdi Tarrant of Kilmer Elementary School, decided to put together videos for the contest. Tarrant was the youngest winner in this year’s contest, taking a first-place prize at the K-1 grade level for a video on Bernie Mac. Nnemdi narrated the video, talking about Mac’s acting accomplishments.
Many of the judges and volunteers were impressed with the level of work. Katherine Wade, a member of the Cherry Hill Public Library Board of Trustees and CHAACA, said she learned a lot about writer James Baldwin during this year’s contest.
“As young as first grade, their research is just phenomenal,” Wade said.
Camden County Freeholder Susan Shin Angulo participated as a judge for the first time this year and said she learned a lot of new facts when reviewing the pieces.
“There was so many people I did not know about,” Angulo said.
Camden County Freeholder Jonathan Young joined Angulo to present certificates from the freeholder board to the winners on Monday night. Young participated as a judge for the contest in the past and loved how many of the kids chose to do projects on people not talked about frequently in classes.
“There’s a lot more to black history than the three or four figures they hear about in school,” Young said.
For a full list of winners from this year’s contest, visit www.cherryhillsun.com.
