Karsceal Turner – I Got NEXT!
There is an ongoing question asked with regard to Black youth. Do our children care about their heritage and ancestry? Don’t answer that. Middle and high school children from Volusia County had the majority of answers during the Ninth Annual Black History Brain Bowl held on the campus of Daytona State College Saturday.
The truth is, I was a few days into compiling a rant of sorts about my perception that our children know little to nothing about our history and culture beyond what is on ESPN and what is shown in music videos. The rampant gunning down of our youth with no retribution is another story, but I won’t digress.
While most residents were firing up the grill in anticipation of the Daytona 500 weekend, students from Ormond Middle School, Hinson Middle School, Calvary Christian School, Mainland High School, New Smyrna Beach High School, and Atlantic High School, were going over notes and testing their resolve about Black history, their history.
The National Council of Negro Women, Daytona Beach Section organized the event aimed at bolstering the core knowledge of Black History.
Churches, organizations, schools and other groups could enter four-person teams of either middle school or high school students. Only one team is allowed from any particular school or organization. The bowl aims to help students become more aware of the country’s diverse history during Black History Month in February.
Black History 365?
Many are of the view that Black history should expand to encompass the entire calendar while others are offended at the use of commercialism to exploit the observance. Retired Maintenance Supervisor Zack Phillips, 66, said the monthly observance would be more effective in educating more than just one specific ethnic group.
“The month, which evolved from a week was supposed to educate the populace,” Phillips said. “You really don’t see all the same publicity amongst other ethnicities.”
The teams competed by answering questions from a moderator and buzzed in their answers, similar to the television show Jeopardy. Judges announced the winning team; each member of that team received a computer.
The event is aimed at middle and high school students in Volusia County. The Bowl attracts a cross-section of the community. A study guide is provided since a lot of the information is not taught in public schools. There are four students to a team.
2014 first-place winners included New Smyrna High School in the high school division and Ormond Beach Middle School in the middle school division.
Tamela D. Thompson, 10th grade teacher at Mainland High school served as one of the coaches for the MHS team, which took second place.
“I teach honors English. It was a very interesting and humbling experience because the students truly do not have strong ethnic and cultural roots, as many of us did within our generation, our parents and grandparents. Without Black History, there would be no history at all,” Thompson said.
February is the shortest month of the year and it’s impossible to learn or teach every significant accomplishment of our culture in such a span, because it occurs daily and we should embrace it daily, not just in February.
It was truly inspirational to observe the excitement and knowledge shared at the Bowl. The students learned to strategize, analyze facts, and work together collaboratively as a team while embracing their culture. I enjoyed it and I’m grateful for organizations like NCNW for keeping our history relevant to the community.
Mainland High placed second in their first ever appearance in the Black History Brain Bowl.
“My team wanted to win first but we’re content with second for now,” Thompson said. “They said ‘wow they were really, really good. Just like us but wow’. This was their first year participating and certainly won’t be their last. They are looking forward to facing off again. I believe if there was a rematch more students would sign up to compete. The tablets they won and lap tops for first place was icing on the cake.”
“Upon selecting the students, I knew they were a unique group who really want to not only win but learn about their history and they did so with a great deal of integrity,” she added.
