Bowie celebrates Black History Month

Yahoo

01-03-2025

Feb. 28—Capping off Black History Month, Bowie Middle School hosted a variety of community members to speak to students Friday.
Speakers came from within Bowie, Ector County ISD and the community as a whole.
Milton Hunt, coach and social studies department head at Bowie, spoke to a group of eighth grade boys in the cafetorium about not being afraid to succeed.
Hunt said this applies to everything in life from being a student, to talking to girls to anything the students decide to do in life.
Hunt told the students about different family members who were his first teachers and had a strong influence on him. He also spoke about his wife, Virginia, and his children.
He encouraged the students to ask themselves if they are applying themselves and putting forth the effort to succeed in school.
If you have been in a classroom with him, Hunt said, you have heard him tell stories about his mom and dad and how he spent four or five days a week in church.
His father would tell him how to be disciplined, be a man of his word, be honorable, be the best you can be and have integrity.
"Your word is all you have. Keep it in good order," Hunt said.
His mother would tell him to do the right thing and treat others with respect.
"These are my first educators," Hunt said.
He added that his grandmother, who was the best grandmother ever, saved him from many "whoopings."
His grandfather was also awesome. He never saw his grandfather do anything wrong.
"He used to take me fishing and I'm sure I would be talking away. He wouldn't say a word. He would just listen to me and we'd stay out there for hours fishing," Hunt said.
He added that they probably didn't catch any fish because of all the talking he was doing.
His aunt Pauline was a true example of a Christian.
"She walked it, she talked it, she lived it. I could tell," Hunt said. "She used to have this one thing she would say. When everything was going bad, if life wasn't going your way, she would say, chin up, chest back. That was her way of saying, although it's not perfect, keep your head up."
Hunt asked the students if they could think of moments in their lives when they wanted to put their head down. Sometimes, he said, when everything is going bad, you "just want to slump your head down.
"You feel defeated," Hunt said.
But keep your chin up and chest back, that was his aunt's way of saying you can overcome it.
"Throughout Black history many people have had to overcome may things," Hunt said.
He read a quote from Martin Luther King Jr.:
"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well."
Hunt said this reminds him of something his father used to say that if you're going to do it, do it right. If you're going to do it, be the best at it.
If you are a student, Hunt said, be the best student to ever live or walk the halls.
"That's what that means. I'm going to give my very best. That might not mean all of us are going to make an A. Maybe your best is getting a B or C. Be good with it. If you did your best, be good with it. If you can look in the mirror and say I did my best, be OK with it," Hunt said.
Hunt said he had five sisters and although they would try to get him to take the blame for things they might have done, they would also defend him.
"They would let nothing hurt me, so I'm very thankful," Hunt said.
He asked the students to think of people who are important in their lives and how their lives were impacted by that person.
"Maybe you're impacting someone's life and you don't even know it. Maybe you've got a younger brother, sister, or cousin, you're impacting their lives but you don't know it. You might not even know you're their example. They're watching everything you do," Hunt said. "My question to you is are you being a good example?"
Principal Amy Russell said three years ago she celebrated Black History Month at Travis Elementary School.
Her first two years at Bowie were a little busier, so this year she felt like it was time to have a Black History Month celebration again.
"I wanted to impact every student here and having almost 900 students, I knew I needed a plethora of speakers here in town, so I was able to contact the same speakers I did three years ago, and they all said absolutely they would come back and speak," Russell said.
The speakers helped her get other speakers and Shelia Stevenson, a former Bowie principal, helped with the event and on Friday.
It took about six weeks of planning to line everything up.
"Sometimes, when we study Black History Month, when we study Cinco de Mayo, (or) other holidays, we see people in our head that are dead and gone (and) have been gone 100 years or more. I want our students to say, wait a minute. We celebrate things today, these people that are in our community, that's what I want to be.
"They look like me, they sound like me, or they're from my community. I buy from their restaurant, or I go to their store, or I see them at the mall. I want students to know they can shine, no matter what, no matter who they are, no matter what their background is, what the color of their skin is, they can shine, and they see the shining from people in our community. 100% of the speakers are our community members. Some of them work for the school district. Some of them have their own restaurants. Some of them work in the news media. Some of them work at churches. Some of them are former students like Damien Christian. They're going to say, hey, he's not much older than me. I wanted students to say, hey, wait a minute, I have a choice and a voice in this, and I can impact my community and impact others, and then give back to the community," Russell said.
She added that Hunt spoke to about 160 eighth grade boys.
"He sounds like a father, he sounds like a mentor. He sounds like a coach and a teacher all wrapped up into one. ... You could hear a pin drop. He was speaking on success," Russell said.
She said she also learned how quickly the community can come together for kids.
Russell added that she asked each presenter who they wanted their audience to be. Some of the presenters wanted to speak to a certain grade level of girls or boys and others would speak to any of the students.
To help gauge the impact of the speakers, Russell said she wants to conduct a student survey.
"I know the community loves it. ... I've invited, of course, ECISD school board members, cabinet, administrative leaders. I've invited city council, so the mayor and his team. I've invited commissioners, so the judge and his team. ... They have busy schedules, and again, if they pop in and out all day, that's the way I wanted it," Russell said.
Students created PowerPoints on figures from Black history that ran on Promethean boards purchased through the 2023 bond.
"The slides are just moving, moving as well as biographies from our speakers are also going through the slides," Russell said.
She added that the Inspiration Station was also on campus.
Kristin Whittenburg, director of STEAM initiatives and special projects, focused on Black inventors. The Inspiration Station gave students a chance to have an EKG done, learn about polymers (slime), how to make snowflakes from polygons on a computer, and learn basic coding and remix popular music.
The students could also pick up a free book outside the Inspiration Station.