Whiz Kids: The Black Culture Club at Peekskill High School
Members of the student club raise money for cancer through a ‘Tree of Remembrance’ and a walk at FDR State Park
- ByJessie Jafet
- Email the author
- 12:00pm
Name: The Black Culture Club at Peekskill High School
Accomplishment: Raising nearly five hundred dollars in October that will be given to Support Connection, a non-for-profit organization that provides support for people affected by breast and ovarian cancer.
Key to Awesomeness: Walk into Peekskill High School this month and you will find a “Tree of Remembrance” dotted with colorful leaves of support. Passers-by are asked for a dollar donation for each leaf, on which a name is written in honor of a person whose life has been touched by cancer, of any kind.
The idea came from the advisor to the Black Culture Club, Shawna Robinson—who is also a security monitor at the school, a Peekskill High alum and a mother of four. It began both as a tribute to her sister who succumbed to cancer as well as in support of school nurse Mary Jane Decker, a breast cancer survivor.
She says the club of about twenty members has really bonded around this effort. “We walked in the beginning of October to participate in the “Support-A-Walk” at FDR State Park and created the tree project at school— the kids have been very excited to make a difference.”
The advisor said that students like Jasmine Michitsch, Troi Nolan, Gydel Sorrell, Naloni Farrow and Jacobi Clarke have contributed time and effort to the cause. “The members of the club have worked during their lunch periods and free periods to run the booth,” Robinson explains. “They will receive awards of community hours toward college.”
The Black Culture Club has been a part of the school since 1979, according to its advisor. Its purpose is to have a place for African-American students to become more involved in the community and give them a sense of their heritage while promoting feelings of self-worth, she says.
Jacobi Clarke said participating in this project has done just that for her. “I feel that it’s an honor to be part of the Black Culture Club, a club whose goal is to help others and to be a part of a bigger community. I love that we can all grow together in such a just cause,” she said.