Barbara Edmonds and Diane Ciccone orchestrated and coordinated the annual Kwanzaa celebration at High School South last week. Both are involved with West Windsor Plainsboro African American Parent Support Group; Edmonds is a parent and Ciccone is vice president.##M:[more]##
Attendees included Superintendent of Schools Robert Loretan; Principals Maryann Isaacs, Millstone River School, and Brian Stevens, Village School; Assistant Principal Robert Banks, High School South; West Windsor Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh; Plainsboro Councilman Michael Weaver and his wife, Stephanie Weaver, a third grade teacher at Wicoff; High School South advisors Nancy Hoch and Danielle Sauer; and Gail Mitchell, ESL teacher. Parent volunteers and members of the WWPAAPSG served refreshments and decorated the commons area with red, green, and black balloons. Community members included parents and students of high school, middle school, and elementary school students.
The keynote speaker was Barbara Flythe, former president of the West Windsor Plainsboro African American Parent Support Group and long time resident of West Windsor. She addressed the history and the ongoing need of the group in the ever-expanding diverse community. She told the origins of Kwanzaa, begun in the United States by Maulena Karenga in 1966. The cultural holiday focuses on seven universal principles based in an African tradition of harvesting fruit and couched in the Swahili language.
High school students explained each principle of Kwanzaa as the candles were lit. Poetry relating to each principle was recommended by Cecelia Hodges of Princeton. The Black national anthem, with words by James Weldon Johnson, was sung and accompanied on the trumpet by William Edmonds. Younger students listened to the read aloud pop up book, “Kwanzaa,” by Robert Sabuda, colored a Kwanzaa activity book by Just Us Publishers. Mitchell presented zawadi (swahili for gift) to the younger attendees.
A highlight of the program was the introduction of New Jersey’s Amistad Commission’s executive director, Karen Jackson-Weaver. The commission ensures that the Department of Education and public schools of New Jersey implement materials and texts integrating the history and contributions of African-Americans.
