Hoboken High School commemorated Black History Month and said thank you to a long time primary and middle school teacher in style at a special assembly in the school’s auditorium Monday. The 90 minute assembly was a foot-stomping and hand-clapping affair that kept the more than 500 students that packed the auditorium entertained as they learned educational tidbits about the history and accomplishments of African Americans and their ancestors. After a rousing version of the national anthem sung by Tiangel Foster, the president of the school’s African American Club, the program began with a tribute to Mary King, a teacher with more than 36 years of service at the Connors and Calabro primary schools and the Demarest Middle School. King, who plans to move from Demarest to Connors next year, received a shower of praise from Mayor Anthony Russo, Board of Education Trustee Carrie Gilliard, and Hoboken High School Principal Frank Spano. “As we celebrate Black History Month, I thought we should honor one of our own living educators,” Gilliard told students and faculty assembled in the auditorium. “Then I thought of Mary King. Today we want to honor the quality of service you have displayed and the devotion you have shown in more than 36 years of service to the Hoboken School District.” All the praise seemed to leave King without words. “All I can say is wow,” she said to loud applause. “Its such an honor for you to bestow this honor on me. I believe that I still have a couple more good years of work in me. But if you continue to be this good to me, I might be around until I am 70.” Thirty dancers from Demarest then performed an interpretative dance set to Stevie Wonder’s upbeat version of “Happy Birthday.” The dancers, who were elaborately decked out in red, green and black outfits, said that the dance was meant to be a celebration of being black in America. “We blended together a lot of old-time black dances,” said dancer Sabrina Seranno after the show. “We did things like the electric slide and the shuffle. These are dances that I will be doing for the rest of my life.” After the student dancers left the stage, the Wincey Terri Troupe, a professional group that has been performing educational pieces in schools for more than 14 years, took over. The troupe took the students on a whimsical journey back through history to the time of the Egyptians, xplaining that Africans had built one of the seven wonders of the world, the pyramids, without using modern machinery. Then the troupe walked the students through the events that ultimately brought black people to the United States, highlighting the inventions and musical contributions that they’d made along the way. Students learned that the refrigerator, the toilet and the sugar crystal were invented by black men, and that the back of the dime was designed by a black woman. When the assembly broke up, most of the students seemed not only to have had a good time, but to have learned something, too. “Oh my goodness, it’s been a little overwhelming, and wow,” said Foster after the show. “I’ll definitely have something to write in my diary tonight.”
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