Students Share Their Work At Assembly

Freshman Carrie Beech reads her speech aloud at the student run assembly.

During the student run assembly several students read their final assignments from their US History course taught by Brian Kelahan.

Mr. Kelahan asked his students to address several questions related what it means to be an American, the US Constitution, and American’s relationship with land and racial divides. The class covered 1620 through 1861 in American history and their work reflected the varied conflicts that were facing Americans. Below are two poems that were read aloud at the assembly.

America
By: Carrie Beech

There’s Rocky soil in this land,
Empty to the Farmer’s hand.
To our home, this country pales,
So we learn to sew up sails.
But soon enough it’s time for change,
For factories that pay low wage.
The day will come when Dixies say,
That industry, not farming, pays.
Their hearts will fill with jealousy,
Though Calhoun cries of tyranny.

Ever heard of Destiny?
Ever dreamt from sea to sea?
Ever woken from your rest,
And felt fate tugging, pulling west?
But know, no lunch is ever free,
Though you don’t listen to the plea.
You don’t see the silent tears,
The unvoiced cry that no one hears.
But months before you tread this path,
Months before your easy laugh,

A little boy trudged slowly west;
Saw his parents laid to rest;
Learnt to hate with head still bow’d;
Yet no one recalls Samuel Cloud.

Field of cotton, miles ‘round,
But no mountains to be found.
Who will be the cotton picker?
On this, politicians bicker.
Yet for now, things stay the same:
One’s dark skin, a brand of shame.
Some attempt to run away,
But they’re haul’d back for promis’d pay.
Some do rise to greater heights,
And take the name of nighttime lights.
The North Star marks a path for some;
Others sing when their guides come.
People call the States a place,
But we have culture, our own race.

American He’s Not The Nation Stands
By: Brittany Willoughby

Elias Boudinot a Cherokee man
Once believe he was soon to be an American man
American he’s not the nation stands

Attending School
Had his land
Even married a white woman
American he’s not the nation stand
Natives not equal
As a white men
Boudinot thought wrong
American he’s not the nation stands

Fighting for rights
For all his Cherokee friends
Georgia loses Cherokee’s win
Now they are ½ equal to white man
The nation sits Boudinot stands looks around American I am
What does it mean to be an American man?

America it will be the man plans
Thomas Jefferson greedy man all he wanted was new land
A president indeed he is
He promised all will be equal in the Declaration of Independence
Purchased Lousisiana in 1803
American he is the nation stands

America it will be the man plans
Elias Boudinot a Cherokee man
Once believe he was soon to be an American man
Attending school
Owned his land a farmer I am
Even married a white woman
American he’s not the nation stands

America it will be the man plans
Slaves back in 1800s
Worked a life on a plantation working no social life not even with friends
Increasing the cotton for rich white men
Invention to something called a cotton gin economic rose for them plantation owners
In result many black men and women list their hands
All to work for a white man
American they are not the slave states stand