Students take first steps toward blazing their own trails during Black History Month
Wearing long, white button-up shirts with their jazz shoes, Comeaux High students leaped and spun across the gym floor Friday.
Dancers in the school's Performing Arts Academy moved in pairs as a recording of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s words played.
The interpretive dance was part of the high school's program to celebrate February as Black History Month.
Friday's event also featured speeches, singing and more dancing by students, faculty and guests.
New Natives Brass Band revved up the crowd with horns, drums and dance moves to remind everyone how cool brass bands are.
University of Louisiana at Lafayette students represented local chapters of the historically black Greek organizations Alpha Phi Alpha and Delta Sigma Theta. Each performed step routines that got students on their feet in the stands.
The performances set the stage for speaker Donna Lanceslin, a former educator and trailblazer in local politics. In 2014, she became the first African-American and first woman to be mayor of Baldwin in St. Mary Parish.
She led the town for four years before shifting into a new role — another first. This year, she took office as the first female African-American commissioner for the West St. Mary Port.
"There are those who live right here among you, your African-American leaders, who are striving hard to show you the way you should go," Lanceslin said.
She urged students to grow and challenge themselves by getting outside their comfort zones and building relationships with others.
The 69-year-old did not have white classmates growing up, but found herself entering a different world when she graduated from historically black Southern University with a teaching degree.
She began her teaching career during integration in Louisiana and was placed at then-predominately white Berwick High School in St. Mary Parish.
"I'd never been with white children," Lanceslin said.
She was unsure what to do, how to be, how the students would be. She didn't know what to expect. It was out of her comfort zone, but she showed up ready to work.
"I learned they're just like other children," she said. "... You do not teach color. You teach children."
She learned that through building relationships with students like Tim Skinner, whom she called "Timmy."
One of her first "babies," Skinner remains a friend of his former English teacher and attended Friday's program as her guest.