Written By: Molly McCaffrey and Grace Fetsick

As everyone knows, February is African American History month.  This February Rush continues its tradition with the African American History Assembly.  In this showcase we see the students at Rush use their various talents to celebrate African heritage.  The theme of this year’s assembly was the Harlem Renaissance, with the performances dedicated to black joy and pride. Through students’ pieces we got to see how black culture influenced the country through such a pivotal period and how it continues to do so even today. 

One performance that in particular stood out was Khi Webster and Kennedy Fuller’s documentary and Janiece Rose’s breathtaking choreography pierced together to make a 8 minute piece that featured over 40 students. This is not to mention it was accomplished in less then two weeks. Many students anticipated this to be one of the highlights when finding out Janiece was choreographing. Student Grace Angelostro said, “I love her choreography, it’s always entertaining and eye-catching and I look forward to pieces she’s worked on.” 

After the assembly Janiece said, “I am beyond grateful that even with everything going on I was still able to do the two things I love most, Choreograph and represent my people.” 

There were many other stand out performances as well including a cover of Billie Holiday’s “I’ll Be Seeing You” by Ayana Ravenell and a moving performance by Jazz Band. A Jazz Band Member said, “While preparing for the jazz band’s performance, I felt pretty excited because I love Jazz music in general. On top of that, we play the song that was actually composed by Duke Ellington. Ellington actually was a famous jazz artist during the period of the Harlem Renaissance.” 

Overall the show went magnificently. Thanks again to Ms. Spencer and Ms. Davis for organizing it and to all of the artists time and dedication in their efforts to this adored Rush tradition.  The next assembly will be for Social Justice Day, we can’t wait to see what the students are preparing.