On June 3, members of the Black Student Alliance (BSA) and the Hispanic–Latino Student Alliance (HLSA), celebrated the end to a great year with a field trip to the New Britain Museum of American Art.
The Black Student Alliance and Hispanic-Latino Student Alliance are clubs at South Windsor High School dedicated to creating spaces where students can discuss and celebrate their cultural identity. The biggest projects of these clubs are their cultural heritage fairs that are held in Hispanic history month for HLSA and Black history month for BSA.
These are held to teach the school community more about their historical and cultural backgrounds, fostering further discussions and awareness. All year, these clubs host fundraisers for cultural heritage fairs and fun events, such as the field trip. These fundraisers include bake sales for BSA and slime sales for HLSA.
The guided tour through the museum went over several historical eras of American art ranging from the Federal era, the Great Depression, and modern American art. There were also multiple forms and interpretations of art, including appropriations, collages, and more traditional portraits and paintings. These art pieces helped to give a voice to under-represented groups like Enslaved Peoples and Native Americans. This taught students about American history through exploration, explanation, and comparison, helping the students understand history from other perspectives. The field trip also allowed the students to express their creativity by going through an artistic process by creating a collage from cutting out images from magazines.
“I really liked looking at the art and having the ability to see a window into the past,” sophomore Roman King said. ”This was like being able to go through the mind of all of the artists and people.”
After the field trip, BSA and HLSA held a joint end of year party after school in the annex cafeteria. During this party, members of the club had a fun time eating homemade and store bought desserts while socializing with their friends. This party not only gave the members of the club a fun time together, it celebrated rising seniors for their dedication to the club during their high school career. This provided them with a send off from the club into their futures in college and adult life.
“This BSA End of the Year Celebration was definitely a day to remember,” Senior and BSA vice president Kamron Redding-Hall told The Prowl. “Having BSA and HLSA come together one final time was a great way to honor our seniors. I’m excited for the future of BSA as we pass the baton over to our next generation of leaders. From superlatives, to sweet treats, BSA lives on.”
