By Sarah Leung

The month of February was a time to remember and celebrate the amazing Black figures in Canada and to support Black History Month. Many members of the Black community deserve to be recognized for their role in the struggle for racial equity. Viola Desmond, Martin Luther King Jr, and even our school namesake, St. Augustine, are just a few Black individuals who have changed our world for the better. This year, our school united to Celebrate Black History Month by having a club crossover between the  H.E.A.R.T. Committee, Our Roots, Spectrum, and Matt 25. All throughout February, these four clubs took turns to educate our community on what Black history truly means to our society.

There were many virtual events that took place. The “Our Stories” forum was a place for Black students to discuss racial issues within the St. A community hosted by Our Roots, and a subsequent video summarizing the experience was created by Spectrum. Matt 25 also made a video discussing “How to be an Ally”. Along with these amazing projects, each club shared different informative posts on their respective Instagram pages that cover a variety of topics relating to each club’s focus. They range from discussions about microaggressions and biases to highlighting some amazing Black Canadian women who have made a difference in the STEM field. 

The last week of February was Matt 25’s turn to show their support and educate us on Black History Month. “Matt 25 is always looking for ways to better our school community, so our members were thrilled to collaborate with Our Roots, Spectrum, and H.E.A.R.T. to celebrate Black History Month,” said the Matt 25 executives. “In essence, our goal was to educate students and ourselves on Black history, as well as ways we can support the Black community today. Our committee focused more on active allyship, our goal being to educate on the importance of being a genuine ally. Students have sent in beautiful prayers about anti-racism, and pledges promising to be an ally to the Black community. We hope that students apply what they have learned this month into their everyday lives: promoting inclusivity and allyship in our community.”

Be sure to check out all four clubs’ Instagram accounts: @heartcommittee.sta, @sachsourroots, @spectrum.sta, and @sta.matt25. Although we are in a new month and February has come to an end, we should still continue to recognize and celebrate Black lives all year round. Keep educating yourselves and others to make a difference to the Black community!