Celebrating Five Years of Black Student Excellence

By Lincoln DePradine

After much lobbying and advocating, the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) eventually agreed to establish the Centre of Excellence for Black Student Achievement (CEBSA), which marked the fifth anniversary of its founding last Saturday with a program of activities that attracted students, parents, teachers, school administrators and community elders such as former Ontario cabinet minister Zanana Akande.

“We have to support each other in order for our kids to progress,’’ Akande told The Caribbean Camera, explaining the reason for her presence at the “Five-Year Community Appreciation Event’’.

CEBSA – located at Winston Churchill Collegiate Institute in Scarborough – has committed itself to the “care, excellence, and ongoing accountability to Black students, families and communities’’.

A first of its kind in Kindergarten to Grade 12 public education in Canada, CEBSA’s mandate also includes providing support to Black students “to combat racism, navigate complaint processes, identify barriers to success, and access appropriate resources’’ such as scholarship opportunities.

The Centre’s mission, as well, includes engaging in “strategic community partnerships related to education’’; and doing “meaningful research on topics relevant to Black students that are then integrated across schools and at the system level within the TDSB’’.

What CEBSA aims to do is “remove systemic barriers’’ facing Black students, said Thando Hyman, principal at the Centre of Excellence for Black Student Achievement.

“We want to give access, we want to give opportunity, but, we also want them to be visionaries.’’

According to Hyman, former principal of the Africentric Alternative School, CEBSA’s anniversary “represents five years of delivering programming that supports the growth and development of Black students and families, and communities raising Black children’’.

“It’s wonderful to be a part of the historical legacy and journey of the Centre of Excellence, knowing the many years of reports and advocacy from the community, calling for a space for, about, and by their children to affirm who they are; to ensure that they have graduation pathways and academic excellence, so that they can thrive and be successful and be contributing members to society,’’ Hyman said.

Commemorating five years of the founding of the Centre of Excellence for Black Student Achievement is a “joy’’, said Karen Murray, System Superintendent for Equity, Anti-racism and Anti-oppression, with her responsibilities covering the CEBSA.

“I see young people who have gone on and talked about the impact this Centre has had on them. We have some kids who have come to us because their sibling has said, ‘you’d better sign up for that program’. That, to me, is the success of the Centre,’’ Murray said.

“We see some young people who have been able to get scholarships, and some who are part of our Black Students’ Summer Leadership Program. This year, we have 200 kids who are going to have employment.’’

CEBSA has done “fantastic’’ work, said Akande, a member of the elders’ council of the Centre of Excellence for Black Student Achievement.

“I feel very encouraged. They’ve done fantastic things,’’ added Akande, a former TDSB school principal, who is turning 89 this year, and is the daughter of two Caribbean-born teachers.

LJI reporter

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