Career High School Lifts Every Voice & Sings

Hill Regional Career High School’s auditorium rang like a rolling sea as students lifted their voices to sing the Black National Anthem alongside school staffer Shirley Love, whose voice left the school full of the hope. 

That performance took place on Tuesday at the Legion Avenue high school. Career students and staff celebrated Black History Month with an end of day assembly that sent students home feeling inspired and more knowledgeable about historical African American trailblazers. 

The school’s final Black History Month celebration of the year had been rescheduled from the previous week after being cancelled due to a late February snowstorm.

Students and staff gathered Tuesday to showcase their talents in singing and cheerleading. Several students also performed and addressed their peers as the culmination of month-long research projects about Black mathematicians, business owners, and scientists. 

Tuesday’s celebration also honored former Career principal Charles Williams and the late beloved New Haven barber Willie C. Mewborn with ​“You Make A Difference” awards. 

The assembly kicked off with the singing of the ​“Lift Every Voice and Sing” by the school’s student choir and office clerk Shirley Love. 

Several students said Tuesday was the first they learned Love could sing. 

Event organizer and Career administrator Jonathan Berryman portrayed the life and legacy of Carter G. Woodson, who’s work as a historian led to the establishment of Black History Month. 

Berryman told students about Woodson’s life with illiterate parents who were formerly enslaved. He was self-educated and could not afford to go to high school until he was 20 years old, Berryman said. 

Despite growing up working in a coal mine and as a farmhand with his family, Woodson went on to be a historian, author, journalist, and the founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. 

“I therefore encourage you to keep reading, keep researching, keep writing, in your own press to know more about Black history not just for February but for all months and all seasons,” Berryman concluded. 

Click here to read Tuesday’s presentations. 

Career’s assistant principal Alice Coleman presented two ​“You Make A Difference Awards” to the event’s special guest, former principal Williams, and to the wife, daughter, and granddaughter of the late community barber Willie Mewborn. Eight Career staffers who previously worked under Williams joined him on the stage as he received the award.

Williams worked for NHPS for 50 years and even after retirement. On Tuesday he returned to the school he led for more than a decade to be recognized as playing a key role the school’s history. 

“Thank you for carrying on the tradition that has been established by the community,” Williams said. You continue to achieve, you continue to reach, you continue to inspire and aspire to do great things. I expect nothing less.”

Mewborn’s wife, Dorothy, thanked Career for recognizing her late husband. 

“I am almost certain that at least half of the students in this building know of that barbershop, if you don’t know your parents know or you do have friends that know,” Dorothy said. 

In response to a student choir performance of Kirk Franklin’s ​“I Smile” Dorothy reminded students to smile every day. 

Students continued with a cheerleading performance followed by a Black history business/technology emphasis by a group of four students who shared about the impact of Black innovators like Marie Van Brittan Brown, James Edward Maceo West, and Madam CJ Walker. 

Another group of students presented on Black history and mathematics, sharing the stories of mathematicians like Gladys Mae West and Katherine Johnson. 

A slideshow of student murals created around the school of Black icons was also displayed during the assembly. 

During a student presentation on the author of A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry, eight students spoke about her life and the impact of her writing. Students described her as a feminist and activist who was honored and recognized by other prominent Black leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., Nina Simone, and James Baldwin. 

“Thank you Career, may we remember during Black history month and always the influence of those who come before us including Lorraine Hansberry and may we never forget what a priceless treasure it is to be young, gifted, and Black,” said one student. 

“It’s been a couple of years since we’ve been together, we should celebrate that too,” said Assistant Principal Stephen Ciarcia during the event’s closing remarks. 

He thanked the special guests, students, and staff for putting together the event. 

The assembly ended with a student performance by Joshua Tomlinson and Friends who sang ​“The Kingdom, The Power and the Glory Forever” by Bernard Williams. 

During the end of day performance, dozens of Career students in the crowd turned on their phone flashlights and waved their arms along to the song. 

Click here to view the final performances of the assembly. 

During the school day’s dismissal, Career freshmen Autumn and Honesty said they left feeling motivated.

“I didn’t know Ms. Love could sing like that, it was a lot of fun,” Autumn said. 

Honesty said she most enjoyed the student song and dance performances. ​“It made me see what my school can do,” she said. 

Throughout the month of February, Autumn said she did Black history month projects on figures like Harriet Tubman and Rosa Parks. 

Before catching their bus the duo said they hope to participate in the assembly in the future. 

“It was a good reminder to everyone that Black Lives Matter,” Autumn said. 

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