Spokesman Volume 59 Issue 2

Implications of the New AP African American Studies Course
NEWS 3
not focus enough on foundational
African American history.
African American students make
up 15 percent of highschoolers
in America, but they are only
9 percent of students taking at
least one AP class. The College
Board hoped that learning about
something one can personally
resonate with would peak more
interest amongst Black students.
The removal of some current and
recent historical movements in the
curriculum, however, may detract
from connections that students
might make. “You can’t have an
honest conversation about African
American history without including
those things,” says PDS Director
of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Anthony McKinley. “Even if you’re
doing a course on history, there has
to be some way to tie what went on in
the past to what’s happening now.”
The connection between past and
present is often crucial to students’
understanding and connection with
their identity and culture.
Senior and co-head of the Black
Student Union Ziya Brittingham
explained, “I think it opens the
door for opportunities for other
marginalized groups to have their
history learned about … [such
as] South Asian studies and East
Asian studies. Different groups
that have been underrepresented.”
Brittingham thinks of this as an
opportunity to hear the stories of
many cultures, including stories
that are not often woven into the
curriculums of most history classes.
According to History Department
Chair Stephanie Santangelo, the
history department will likely not
make this course available at PDS,
however, because of the African
American history course currently
available. PDS currently has an
elective course, called Modern
African American history that
Brittingham, and others, have taken
which she says was very enjoyable.
The course was taught by Ms.
Santangelo and will return as an
elective choice in the coming years.
r
(Artwork/Lucinda Peng ‘25)
A Glimpse of the 11th and 12th Grade Days of Service
Juniors volunteering at Arm in Arm (Photo/PDS Flickr) (Photo/PDS Flickr)
(Photo/PDS Flickr)
Mock Trial Wins the Regional Semi-Finals
county competitions. To emerge
as the winners, the PDS Mock
Trial team defeated the nine other
teams in the county, including
Lawrenceville. Senior and PDS
Mock Trial co-head Arjun Kumar
recalled, “When we were going
against Lawrenceville, we were
feeling a bit nervous, but we
were still really confident, and in
the end I think we were just the
better prepared team.” As Kumar
explained, many members of the
team felt nervous about competing
against Lawrenceville, but nobody
let their apprehension get the best
of them. This strategy of confidence
allowed them to harness their weeks
of practice to defeat the competition
and ultimately come out on top.
Looking forward to the next
levels of competition, regionals and
then onwards to states and higher,
the team continues to prepare
for all that is to come. Freshman
Harrison Bagga explained the
team’s preparations: “We’ve been
preparing a lot, meeting every
week. I think the morale is pretty
high. We’re hoping we can win.”
Bagga stated that continual weekly
meetings will allow the team to
develop stronger skills for the next
rounds of competition. Further,
Bagga went on to say that the team’s
continuous positive and hopeful
outlook will allow them to succeed
further into the competition as well.
On February 28, the Mock Trial
team came out on top yet again and
won the regional semi-finals in both
rounds. The team will begin their
next rounds of competition in the
regional finals on March 9. r