News & Press Releases
Black History Month Takes Off at ICS
The ICS has embarked on an exciting Black History Month program during the month of February. With planning assistance from ICS Board Member Barato Britt, Behavior Coaches Randy Ballard and Reilly Harmeyer developed a team competition-based approach to discovering more about African-American history and its impact on Indianapolis, the state of Indiana, and the United States. “The rationale behind the contest is simply to get the kids to become more aware of black history in a national sense,” explains Mr. Ballard, “and to instill a sense of pride in the local contributions to African-American history.”
The competition works like this:
Each school day, ICS teachers are emailed a question pertaining to a prominent local or national figure or event in black history. Every class collaborates on developing an answer then reports it to Mrs. Harmeyer. Classes are awarded a point for every correct answer and an extra point for the first class to report the correct answer.
Extra credit points can also be obtained by students visiting any black history event or site throughout the city and bringing back evidence of their visit, such as photos, plaque rubbings, and educational material. Enterprising ICS students have visited the Madame Walker Theater, Crispus Attacks Museum, Indiana Avenue, and the Martin Luther King Park Memorial. Some have attended Black History Month cultural events held at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis and the Indiana Arts Garden, for example.
Students demonstrating exemplary program participation, such as by organizing field trips, are being recognized as Black History Month MVPs. One group of MVPs was treated to a chaperoned music and dance show, “African Footprint,” at the Madam Walker Theater on Feb. 15.
At the end of February, an all-school convocation will be held in the ICS Gym to provide public recognition of the MVPs and to announce the classroom winner of the month-long contest. The class with the most points will be awarded a field trip to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. The center offers age-appropriate two-hour tours for grades K-12.
“It’s getting really competitive,” observes Mrs. Harmeyer. “It’s impressive! The kids have really gotten into it, which is nice.”
If you’d like to see some of the outstanding Black History Month research our students have been conducting, you can view the evidence – which includes photos and theme posters – in the rear hallway outside of Mr. Ballard’s office.