REFLECTIONS
"change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. we are the ones we've been waiting for. we are the change that we seek."
BARACK OBAMA, 44TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
REFLECTING IS A PROCESS.
After studying anything, it is important to stand back and think about perspective. What did I just learn? What are the implications of the events, people, and places? When we ask ourselves these questions, it makes us become more thoughtful and compassionate people. Reflection is essential.
REFLECTING IS A NECESSITY.
Our students reflected on what it means for this year to be "A Year of Triumph." They thought about their feelings concerning Black history, its meanings, and its lessons for today's world. Our hope is that you will reflect similarly and think about the impacts of what you have learned for years to come.
"Learning Black history is important because it teaches you what our ancestors went through and fought for. . . 2021 will be great. I feel it."
CHS SENIOR
"I learned to stand up for something that I believe, without fear. It inspired me to be fearless when being open about my beliefs and opinions."
CHS JUNIOR
"It just shows that learning Black history is learning what we have been through, that we never give up. We never, ever give up."
CHS SENIOR
"we can continue to grow if we keep loving and respecting one another. WE WILL TRIUMPH THIS YEAR IF WE STICK TOGETHER and do what is right."
CONWAY HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR
"IT DOESN'T MATTER WHERE YOU COME FROM, YOU CAN BE A HERO TO SOMEONE."
CONWAY HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR
"IN HISTORY, PEOPLE NEVER LOSE THEIR HOPE FOR FIGHTING. I WANT TO BE THAT WAY."
CONWAY HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR
But one thing is certain:
If we merge mercy with might, and might with right, then love becomes our legacy and change our children's birthright. So let us leave behind a country better than the one we were left with. Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest, we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one. We will rise from the gold-limbed hills of the west, we will rise from the windswept northeast where our forefathers first realized revolution. We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the Midwestern states, we will rise from the sunbaked south. We will rebuild, reconcile and recover and every known nook of our nation and every corner called our country, our people diverse and beautiful will emerge, battered and beautiful. When day comes we step out of the shade, aflame and unafraid. The new dawn blooms as we free it. For there is always light, if only we're brave enough to see it.
If only we're brave enough to be it.
Amanda Gorman
Youth Poet Laureate of the United States of America
From "The Hill We Climb" Inaugural Poem 2021