The Ypsilanti Courier
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Get Involved Students, parents participate in NAAPID events
By Elaine Burnett, Special Writer
PUBLISHED: February 21, 2008
Black history month is a time to celebrate and pay homage to those great people who left a remarkable impression on the African American society and other communities in the country.
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Dr. Carter G. Woodson created black history week in 1926. He picked the second week of February to celebrate the festive occasion because the birhdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass were in that week.
Woodson felt that black people were not getting the proper recognition they deserved, so he created Black History week to make people aware of the many African Americans whom made contributions throughout America's society.
The week-long celebration was later extended from a week to a month and called Black History Month. Since then, many more African Americans like Martin Luther King or Rosa Parks have made contributions to American history and have been added to the list.
The celebration has achieved much notoriety and is recognized across the country and in some cases in other countries such as Canada and parts of the United Kingdom. However the United Kingdom celebrated Black History month in October.
Chapelle School staff and students last week participated in an event titled National African American Parent Involvement Day which included a wide variety of events.
A man named Joseph Dulin created NAAPID. Dulin started the event in Ann Arbor shortly after attending the Million Man March more than 10 years ago.
Dulin had certain expectations for African American children and parents.
"Traditionally he believed that African American children and students did not achieve and reach the American dream, and that too often African American students in schools did not achieve as much as the other children," said Chapelle principal Joe Guillen.
"They often times were not represented in the schools as much other non-minority kids were. They did not go on to higher education and take advance placement courses.
"He wanted to encourage African American parents specifically and challenge them to participate in their child's education. The day is specifically geared to just have open classroom door policy, open school policy that invites and welcomes and oftentimes as we do here have special activities and events that parent might want to participate in and be a part of it for the day," Guillen said.
Chapelle School has been involved with the event for 12 years since it first started
One of the events that the school held was career day. Parents and others explained to students their jobs.
One of the guest speakers who spoke to the students was James Hawkins, superintendent of schools. The children sat on the floor as he explained his job to them. As the children sat quietly he told them why he became a superintendent.
"I was principal for four years. Then I decided I don't have enough education. I want to go back to school because I remember what my mother told me," said Hawkins
Hawkins told the children about his college career and then he told them about his career in the education field.
Teacher Jennifer Puckett's class performed a play titled, "Adrian's African American Adventure."
It was a tale of a little mischievous boy named Adrian who finds that African American History can be more fun than he ever imagined. The students performed the play in the classroom in front of adults.
Kevin Harris, a paraprofessional, wrote the play for Puckett's class. She said that Harris wrote the play the Friday before the NAAPID event and her students learned it over the weekend.
"My students are fourth and fifth-graders who are below grade level and the expectations and these children will not be at grade level. But I really push my children to learn and reach their fullest potential," Puckett said
"We've been here since first thing this morning and the parent turn out has been really good," said local parent Karen Barren. Barren said that they were expecting 100 people and made lunch for them.
Elaine Burnett is an intern for the View/Courier newspapers. She can be reached through editor@bellevilleview.com.
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