A Salute to Making Dreams Possible

By Annette Reyes and Mayra Lopez
Features Editor and Times Staff Writer

This year’s black history month, hosted by Mr. Adams, had an inspiring assembly that showed how meaningful African Americans’ history is to everyone.

The assembly, which took place during second and third block on February 26th, began with two beautiful melodies sang by Ms. Gragera’s Choir. Their songs “Go Down Moses” and “The Battle of Jericho” touched the battles that many African Americans experienced. They sang with enthusiasm and power to contribute to their salute of black’s freedom. “We sang about freedom and the struggle for freedom. And its something that doesn’t only reach to African Americans but also to other minorities as well,” says senior Oscar Tranquilino.
Soon followed Tiny Red, talented poetic rapper, that recited two of his original poems about being black and making it to their dreams. After his inspiring poems and few words of wisdom Randy Cornejo and Randy Hernandez shared their PowerPoint of the most influential and successful African Americans who accomplished their goals and dreams. The PowerPoint consisted of people like Michael Jackson, Will Smith, Langston Hughes, Oprah Winfrey, Kobe Bryant, and Barack Obama. People shouted with excitement when a photo of their favorite black musician, writer, actor, or leader popped up on the PowerPoint.
Once the PowerPoint ended Mr. Adams introduced the young talented singer, Krystal Guiterrez. With confidence she sang “Respect” by Aretha Franklin with her amazing and powerful vocals. “I get really into the song. The more the crowd is into it the more I feel good,” Guiterrez expressed. Guiterrez was followed by Alejandra Zepeda with her inspiring choice of song about reaching your dreams. She poured her heart and soul into making a song memorable for the audience.
Cornejo and Juan Hernandez used their creative minds to create a funny, unique, and memorable skit. The skit consisted of a few SEHS students that did a great job at role-playing famous African American celebrities. Cornejo was the announcer, Hernandez played Tiger Woods, Herrera acted as Kanye West, and a few other students played minor roles as Tiger Woods wife, and the good looking ladies and friends. Cornejo was giving Tiger Woods (Hernandez) an award when suddenly Kanye West (Herrera) interrupted his speech by claiming Kobe Bryant as the “best athlete that ever existed.” Kanye West and Tiger Woods battled it out with hilarious comebacks that was then interrupted by Tiger Wood’s wife who was upset because of his affair with another woman. The audience enjoyed the skit and laughed to almost every minute of it.
Ms. Chavez introduced her fourth block drama class to show off their moves to Michael Jackson’s “Dangerous.” The dance moves were quick and impressed the audience. Even though they did the routine last minute, they did a successful job of entertaining the audience with their talented dancing and acting skills.
Erika Lua, Ashley Bailon, and Jesse Lopez took their places on stage to prepare the audience for an acoustic tribute to Michael Jackson’s popular hits. While Lopez strummed on his guitar, Lua and Bailon sang pieces of “I’ll Be There,” “Man in the Mirror,” “ABC,” and a few other of Jackson’s songs. Guiterrez then took her place on stage again to sing “If I Ain’t Got You” by Alicia Keys. Because of the songs popularity many people clapped, wowed, and sang along. When she end the song she introduced the one and only LL Cool J. The audience went wild and a few hugged him. LL Cool J thanked everyone and said, “You can do anything if you put your mind to it. Dig deep inside and you can take your life to the next level. Dreams are close enough to reach them. You can do it.”
We all give special thanks to Mr. Adams, Ms. Chavez, Ms. Gragera, and everyone else that dedicated much of their time and effort to making this assembly possible.