Middle and Senior School students were excited to welcome Adeyemi Adegbesan (also known as Yung Yemi), a multi-disciplinary artist based in Toronto, to their assembly for Black History Month. Mr. Adegbesan incorporates photography and mixed media collage into Afro-futuristic portraits that appear on murals, album covers and other projects. One of his powerful murals is on the exterior of Mackenzie House Museum in Toronto. It honours Mary Ann Shadd Cary, an American-Canadian anti-slavery activist, journalist, publisher, teacher and lawyer.

Mr. Adegbesan told the students that while Black History Month has historically focused on topics like slavery, trauma and social injustice - which he says are critically important to discuss - as a Black person, he also wants to talk about joy, success and love.

Junior School students were thrilled to have a virtual conversation with Khodi Dill, a writer, educator and spoken word artist who lives in Saskatchewan. The students were spellbound as Mr. Dill read his book ‘Welcome to the Cypher.’ The cypher in the title refers to a gathering of rappers who form a circle to take turns performing freestyle rap verses.

Mr. Dill says writing rap lyrics helped him find his voice and his freedom. When he tried to find a picture book that would help his two children understand his love for rap’s rhymes and rhythm, he discovered that no one had written one. That’s why he decided to write ‘Welcome to the Cypher.’

His book was a big hit with our Junior School students. They bobbed their heads happily as he read lyrics that included:

Welcome to the cypher. Now huddle up nice and snug.