DHS kicks off Black Heritage Month

Feb. 1—DANVILLE — Danville High School has a full calendar of events kicking off today for Black Heritage Month this month.

According to David Groves Jr., coordinator of the month's events with the Black Heritage Month Committee, "This month is special to me, not because of its history but its Heritage. I refer to this month as Black Heritage Month because we learn from our history to create a culture of understanding and impact for future generations. History is the past, but Heritage is forever."

"For the last two years, I have prepared dance performances for the Ubuntu program and always loved seeing the students feel prideful walking off the stage. When I moved back in 2020, I learned how COVID-19 changed how our students interacted with one another. I did not see that pride we once had and vowed to ensure our students knew how talented they were," Groves said.

"As a DHS student, I remember Mr. Ricky Hoskins and his committee enforced a spirit of pride that allowed us to know the power of the month. We were challenged to dress in business casual clothing all month and coordinated an assembly. I remember dressing up daily, not because of the challenge, but because it allowed me to see my peers as future professionals," Groves said.

He adds, "although we only challenge the students to dress up on Mondays this year, it will create a similar value. On top of dressing up, creating a calendar where students are consistently busy planning and helping each other will allow them to prepare to be successful in college. This value will enable students ... to be creative and impactful. Most of all, we allow the students to be Free to Dream in the hopes of encouraging our students to take pride in increasing the student spirit of our school."

Groves currently teaches senior and freshman English as a long-term substitute teacher and is assistant track and volleyball coach at DHS. He also works with students through Ubuntu Mentoring and the Performance Arts group.

Groves said, "We look forward to welcoming the community to our Black Heritage Month Kickoff and Community Night."

The Black Heritage Month Kickoff event will be at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 1 with the junior varsity basketball game, and senior recognition of Sophia Foley, Jyah Parker and Keshay Landfair taking place at 6:50 p.m. before the varsity game. There will be games, a live DJ and prizes.

There will be a Lunchroom Fashion Show on Feb. 9, Spirit Week from Feb. 12-16 with different dress up days, and a Sadie Hawkins Dance on Feb. 17.

Community Night will take place at 5 p.m. Feb. 26 with a Mental Health Panel of mental health professionals from DHS and the community. Then, starting at 6 p.m., they will host a Parent Preview night of the assembly, giving honors and celebrating with the community.

On Feb. 28 will be the assembly.

Throughout the month are Manifest Mondays for students to dress in business casual clothing. Fit Check Fridays are for students to put on their best fit and be photo shoot ready.

The committee started planning Black Heritage Month activities several months ago.

Groves said, "We sat down for the month and created a game plan that began in September. The plan started with creating a schedule allowing students to be at the forefront, and we are present to help support them."

"After a few meetings, we made a theme for the month, which is entitled 'The Light That Grew from the Shade,' which has been inspired by Amanda Gorman's poem 'The Hill We Climb' and Tupac Shakur's 'The Rose that Grew from the concrete,'" he said.

Groves said from there, they created events and established the breakdown for the month.

The Black Heritage Month committee consists of Shaconna George (mental health), Kara Hile (marketing), Ricky Hoskins (Sadie Hawkins dance), Kara Shaw (fashion show), Taylor Volmer (decorations), Bryan Simmons (assembly), Haley Youhas (curriculum), and administration team (DHS Principal Jacob Bretz, Associate Principal DeMarko Wright and Assistant Principals Betsy Porter, Scot Vogal and Elizabeth Cosat.