Student and parent activities during Black History Month at Notre Dame

Social justice, civil rights and the 'Children's March' are top of mind at NDPMA during Black History Month 2018.

Ginny Pauwels, a teacher in Notre Dame's middle school, is showing the Academy Award-winning documentary, "Mighty Times: The Children's March," during Black History Month as part of her discussions about the civil rights movement in the United States.

Nearly 55 years ago, more than a thousand schoolchildren marched in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest segregation. The May 1963 event set a huge new spark to the American civil rights movement and became known as the "Children's Crusade." The march was eventually chronicled in 2004 in an Academy Award-winning documentary called "Mighty Times: The Children's March."

Ginny Pauwels, a teacher in Notre Dame's middle school, is using that film and other materials during Black History Month as she leads her students in discussions surrounding the civil rights movement in this country.

Among other activities going on at NDPMA during Black History Month is the planned screening for an upper-school student diversity group of "13th," a 2016 American documentary "exploring the intersection of race, justice and mass incarceration in the United States," said Kala Parker, the school's dean of diversity and associate dean of admissions. She also said many of NDPMA's other teachers are exploring civil rights and diversity with their students during the month.

A third of four scheduled Diversity Collaborative Forums for parents is scheduled for February 28 in Notre Dame's media center.

In addition, a number of students in the Social Justice class, part of the upper-division's religion curriculum, have been working with the "armband experiment," which has given them a powerful sense of what it means to be part of a visible minority group confronted with discrimination.

"Also, we have been working with all three divisions over the past several months to create student-produced art pieces relating to our school's value for diversity to hang in all hallways," said Parker, who noted the school will wrap up Black History Month with its third Parent Diversity Collaborative on February 28.

Notre Dame head of school Andy Guest said that diversity is essential to the NDPMA community.

"Diversity promotes student growth and understanding, and prepares students for integration into a real global world in which they are expected to be upright citizens in their communities," he said. "It is a part of our mission; it is a part of us and who we are."

A fourth Diversity Collaborative Forum is planned for April 18 at Notre Dame.

Comments or questions? mkelly@ndpma.org.

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About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. Notre Dame's upper school enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower schools enroll students in pre-kindergarten through grade eight. All three schools are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDPMA is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school's home page at www.ndpma.org.