Friday, Feb 26

Fri - Feb 26th


February brings Black History Month and we will be recognizing a special African American each day during our announcements. Today we are recognizing

Muhammed Ali (1942-2016) Boxer
As a boxer, Ali is considered the greatest of all time. His style, power, ring savvy, and winning of an Olympic gold medal and the world heavyweight title three times was unprecedented. He lost the heavyweight crown in 1971. Ali’s professional record was 56–5 — but the fight that epitomizes his genius was the “Rumble in the Jungle,” the bout against heavyweight champion George Foreman. Ali, at age 32, was the underdog. But Ali’s “rope-a-dope” technique baited Foreman into throwing wild punches and exhausting himself. In an eighth-round knockout, Ali reclaimed the heavyweight title that had been taken from him 10 years earlier. Born in 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky, as Cassius Clay, he will be forever known simply as “The Greatest.”

Barack Obama (1961-present) The 44th President of the United States
Barack Obama’s stride into history has been as confident as it has been unlikely. He announced his candidacy for president on Feb. 10, 2007, a black first-term U.S. senator who previously had served just seven years in the Illinois Senate. He had little support from established politicians, and many black voters did not even know who he was. But his campaign became a movement. His soaring speeches promising hope and change inspired millions. Less than two years later, a record crowd gathered on the National Mall to witness what was once unthinkable: the inauguration of the first black president of the United States. Through two terms as president, he tamed the Great Recession, rescued the struggling auto industry, and enacted a health care reform law that had eluded Democrats for decades. He was disciplined and deliberative, even-tempered, and level-headed. He was often described as the smartest person in the room. Speaking to the nation in his farewell address, Obama reprised the slogan that accompanied his history-making rise to the White House: “Yes we can,” he said. “Yes, we did. Yes, we can.”
President Barack Obama, an African-American who we celebrate today for Black History Month.


7th and 8th graders:
The Binning Family Foundation has an opportunity for you to join their QuaranTEEN Film Festival! Create an original 3-5 minute school-appropriate film and enter it to be reviewed by a panel of judges for prizes. If you’re interested, stop by the office for more information.


All students that had STEM 1st Semester should drop by Room 1211 to pick up any 3d Printed projects THIS WEEK.

Tuesday, Feb 23

Tues - Feb 23rd

February brings Black History Month and we will be recognizing a special African American each day during our announcements. Today we are recognizing

Henrietta Lacks (1920-1951) Unvolunteering Cell Donor

Lacks was a 31-year-old mother of five when she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Just months before her death, doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore sliced pieces of tissue from her cancerous tumor without her consent — in effect, stealing them. It was another instance of decades of clinical practices that discriminated against blacks. Lacks was not a slave, but parts of her cancerous tumor represent the first human cells ever bought and sold. Her cells, known among scientists as HeLa, were unusual in that they could rapidly reproduce and stay alive long enough to undergo multiple tests. Lacks’ cells — now worth billions of dollars — live in laboratories across the world. They played an important part in developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, and in vitro fertilization. The HeLa cell line has been used to develop drugs for treating leukemia, influenza, and Parkinson’s disease. They’ve been influential in the study of cancer, lactose digestion, transmitted diseases, and appendicitis. Henrietta Lacks, an African-American who we celebrate today for Black History Month.


7th and 8th graders:
The Binning Family Foundation has an opportunity for you to join their QuaranTEEN Film Festival! Create an original 3-5 minute school-appropriate film and enter it to be reviewed by a panel of judges for prizes. If you’re interested, stop by the office for more information.


All students that had STEM 1st Semester should drop by Room 1211 to pick up any 3d Printed projects THIS WEEK.

Monday, Feb 22

Mon - Feb 22nd


February brings Black History Month and we will be recognizing a special African American each day during our announcements. Today we are recognizing
Benjamin Bannaker (1731-1806) Inventor of the Almanac, Surveyor
Benjamin was a free African-American almanac author, surveyor, landowner, and farmer who had knowledge of mathematics and natural history. Born in Baltimore County, Maryland, to a free African-American woman and a former slave, Banneker had little or no formal education and was largely self-taught. He became known for assisting Major Andrew Ellicott in a survey that established the original borders of the District of Columbia, the federal capital district of the United States.

Banneker's knowledge of astronomy helped him author a commercially successful series of almanacs. He corresponded with Thomas Jefferson on the topics of slavery and racial equality, Jefferson having earlier drafted the United States Declaration of Independence. Abolitionists and advocates of racial equality promoted and praised Banneker's works.

Although a fire on the day of Banneker's funeral destroyed many of his papers and belongings, one of his journals and several of his remaining artifacts are presently available for public viewing. Parks, schools, streets, and other tributes commemorate him and his works. However, many accounts of his life exaggerate his accomplishments or attribute to him the achievements of others. Benjamin Bannaker, an African-American who we celebrate today for Black History Month.

7th and 8th graders:
The Binning Family Foundation has an opportunity for you to join their QuaranTEEN Film Festival! Create an original 3-5 minute school-appropriate film and enter it to be reviewed by a panel of judges for prizes. If you’re interested, stop by the office for more information.

All students that had STEM 1st Semester should drop by Room 1211 to pick up any 3d Printed projects THIS WEEK.

Friday, Feb 19th

Fri - Feb 19th


February brings Black History Month and we will be recognizing a special African American each day during our announcements. Today we are recognizing

Mary Mcleod-Bethune (1875-1955) Civil Rights Activist Educator

An educator, civil rights leader, and adviser to five U.S. presidents, the “First Lady of the Struggle” has been synonymous with black uplift since the early 20th century. She turned her faith, her passion for racial progress, and her organizational and fundraising savvy into the enduring legacies of Bethune-Cookman University. She understood the intersections of education, optics, and politics and was fierce and canny in using them to advance the cause of black Americans. First lady Eleanor Roosevelt considered Bethune one of her closest friends. Photos featuring her with the president or first lady ran prominently in black publications, helping to normalize the notion of black faces in high places. Mary McCleod-Bethune, an African-American who we celebrate today for Black History Month.


7th and 8th graders:

The Binning Family Foundation has an opportunity for you to join their QuaranTEEN Film Festival! Create an original 3-5 minute school-appropriate film and enter it to be reviewed by a panel of judges for prizes. If you’re interested, stop by the office for more information.

Thursday, Feb 18th

Thurs - Feb 18th


February brings Black History Month and we will be recognizing a special African American each day during our announcements. Today we are recognizing

Michael Jackson (1958-2009) Singer/Songwriter

Over a career spanning five decades, Jackson would bend all these emerging cultural forces to his will. He arrived on the world stage at age 11, having already sacrificed his youth performing at venues around his Indiana hometown of Gary. Combining the soft-shoed grace of Sammy Davis Jr. with the slip-sliding exuberance of James Brown, Michael and the Jackson 5 topped the Hot 100 with their first Motown Records singles “I Want You Back” and “ABC”. His 1979 coming-of-age solo album, Off The Wall — featuring the self-penned hit “Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough” — raised the bar for dance music production. The singer’s 1982 follow-up LP, Thriller, was so successful in assimilating world music styles that it rocketed to No. 1 in most countries, including apartheid-era South Africa. It was the first LP to place seven top 10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, while nabbing a record-breaking eight Grammys. Thriller remains the best-selling album ever, having moved an undisputed 100 million copies worldwide. Michael Jackson, an African-American who we celebrate today for Black History Month.


7th and 8th graders:

The Binning Family Foundation has an opportunity for you to join their QuaranTEEN Film Festival! Create an original 3-5 minute school-appropriate film and enter it to be reviewed by a panel of judges for prizes. If you’re interested, stop by the office for more information.

Wednesday, Feb 17

Wed - Feb 17th


February brings Black History Month and we will be recognizing a special African American each day during our announcements. Today we are recognizing
W.E.B Du Bois (1868-1963) Sociologist, Writer, Activist

W.E.B. Du Bois, or William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, was an African American writer, teacher, sociologist, and activist whose work transformed the way that the lives of Black citizens were seen in American society. Considered ahead of his time, Du Bois was an early champion of using data to solve social issues for the Black community, and his writing became required reading in African American studies.  W.E.B. Du Bois, an African-American who we celebrate today for Black History Month.


7th and 8th graders:

The Binning Family Foundation has an opportunity for you to join their QuaranTEEN Film Festival! Create an original 3-5 minute school-appropriate film and enter it to be reviewed by a panel of judges for prizes. If you’re interested, stop by the office for more information.

Tuesday, Feb 16

Tues - Feb 16th


February brings Black History Month and we will be recognizing a special African American each day during our announcements. Today we are recognizing

Aretha Franklin (1942-2018) Singer/Songwriter

Known as the Queen of Soul, the daughter of popular Detroit Baptist minister C.L. Franklin scored a No. 1 hit with her remake of Otis Redding’s “Respect”, a song that helped soundtrack the civil rights movement. Her signature song — and her most noted, as it’s been used many times over in TV and films and is a hot karaoke tune — also served as a sisterly call for women, who also were looking for respect and to be taken seriously alongside their male counterparts. All these years later, the single still resonates. But Franklin is bigger than one track. Her career has spanned five decades, and she also was the first female performer inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 — as she should have been. She’s had more than 100 singles that have reached the Billboard charts, and 17 of them have been top 10 singles. She’s won an impressive 18 Grammys, has sold more than 75 million albums, and she’s one of the most influential voices ever, inspiring and paving the way for acts such as BeyoncĂ©, Whitney Houston, and Mariah Carey. Aretha Franklin, an African-American who we celebrate today for Black History Month.



7th and 8th graders:

The Binning Family Foundation has an opportunity for you to join their QuaranTEEN Film Festival! Create an original 3-5 minute school-appropriate film and enter it to be reviewed by a panel of judges for prizes. If you’re interested, stop by the office for more information.

Friday, Feb 12th

Fri - Feb 12th


February brings Black History Month and we will be recognizing a special African American each day during our announcements. Today we are recognizing


Sidney Poitier (1927 to present) Actor, Filmmaker, Director

In 1964, the legend became the first African-American to win an Academy Award for Lilies of the Field, an important piece of cinema about a black handyman who encounters a group of German, Austrian and Hungarian nuns who believe that he’s been heaven-sent. Some may say the same about Poitier’s career. The films that he created in 1967 were seminal — they all centered around race and race relations and tapped into conversations everyday black folks were having around their dinner tables. To Sir with Love dealt with racial and social issues inside of a school in London’s East End. In the Heat of the Night introduced us to a black detective who is investigating a murder in a small Southern town and the much-referenced Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner addressed interracial relationships the same year that a landmark Supreme Court civil rights decision invalidated laws prohibiting interracial unions. Sidney Poitier, an African-American who we celebrate today for Black History Month.


PRIDE Leaders: Please plan to join Mrs. Blake for a quick Google Meet about our next activity on your distance day next Tuesday or Thursday morning at 8:30. Check our Google Classroom for details. Email Mrs. Blake with questions.


Thursday, 2/11

 Thurs - Feb 11th


February brings Black History Month and we will be recognizing a special African American each day during our announcements.  Today we are recognizing

Harriet Tubman (1820-1913) Abolitionist
Tubman escaped from slavery in 1849, using the Underground Railroad to make the 90-mile trip from Maryland to Philadelphia, but her individual safety wasn’t enough. Hearing that her niece and her children were going to be sold, she went back to the South and led them on the path to Philadelphia. Soon she came for her siblings and then for her parents. After the passage of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law, which dictated that slaves who escaped to the North could be recaptured and returned to slavery, Tubman changed her route to end in Canada, a country where slavery was outlawed. Even though there was a bounty for her capture, she made at least 19 trips. Harriet Tubman, the influential “conductor” of the Underground Railroad, will be the first African-American woman to appear on U.S. currency when her likeness appears on the $20 bill beginning in 2021. She led hundreds of slaves out of the South to freedom and each journey and every person mattered. “I was the conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years, and I can say what most conductors can’t,” she said. “I never ran a train off the track and I never lost a passenger.” Harriet Tubman, an African-American who we celebrate today for Black History Month.


Attention All Students,

Yearbook wants your photos. We are in need of photos of your recent travels and your accomplishments. Send your photos to the yearbook adviser, Ms. Manculich, at ymanculich@lps.k12.co.us Please include your photos as attachments in the email. Identify who, what, when and where. Yearbook wants to feature YOU so don't hesitate to respond.


PRIDE Leaders: Please plan to join Mrs. Blake for a quick Google Meet about our next activity on your distance day next Tuesday or Thursday morning at 8:30. Check our Google Classroom for details. Email Mrs. Blake with questions.

Wednesday, Feb 10

Good morning, Pumas!

Click here for today's announcements and don't forget that tonight is Dining for $$ at the SouthGlenn Noodles & Co. from 4 pm - 8 pm! Make sure you mention Powell when ordering and if ordering online you will need to enter the code GIVING25 at checkout. This offer is not valid for delivery.

Tuesday, February 9

Tues - Feb 9th


February brings Black History Month and we will be recognizing a special African American each day during our announcements.  Today we are recognizing


Ida B. Wells (1862-1931) Journalist and Civil Rights Activist

Known as a “Sword Among Lions,” Wells faced down threats of death and torture for bringing international attention to the terror that afflicted post-Reconstruction black communities in the United States. Wells sounded the alarm about the barbaric acts of her countrymen in the pages of the Memphis Free Speech, the newspaper she co-owned. She pushed for action in the face of widespread denialism.  Wells also found time to advocate for the suffrage and civil rights of black women like herself.  Wells was spurred to raise the alarm about violence after three of her friends were murdered by a Memphis mob in 1892. She lives on in black women who not only exercise their right to vote but take it upon themselves to run for office (Wells ran for a seat in the Illinois state Senate). She lives in the words and deeds of the NAACP, which she co-founded, and in the practice of intersectional feminism itself. Ida B. Wells, an African-American who we celebrate today for Black History Month.



Attention All Students,

Yearbook wants your photos. We are in need of photos of your recent travels and your accomplishments. Send your photos to the yearbook adviser, Ms. Manculich, at ymanculich@lps.k12.co.us Please include your photos as attachments in the email. Identify who, what, when and where. Yearbook wants to feature YOU so don't hesitate to respond. 


Student Council Members: 
We will be having our meeting this Wednesday the 10th instead of the 26th.  Please see your email for information from Mrs. Sheets


PRIDE Leaders: Please plan to join Mrs. Blake for a quick Google Meet about our next activity on your distance day next Tuesday or Thursday morning at 8:30.  Check our Google Classroom for details.  Email Mrs. Blake with questions.

 

Tomorrow is Dining for Dollars at the Southglenn Noodles and Co. from 4 - 8 pm.  25% of qualifying sales that night directly benefit Powell.  Make sure you mention our school when ordering and this is not valid for delivery.  If ordering online you will need to enter the code GIVING25 at checkout.  

 

Monday, February 8th

Mon - Feb 8th


February brings Black History Month and we will be recognizing a special African American each day during our announcements. Today we are recognizing
Booker T. Washington (1856-1915)
Founder of the Tuskegee Institute, Washington, born into slavery on a plantation just before the Civil War and educated at Hampton Institute, started Tuskegee in 1881 with 30 students, $2,000, and a one-room shack. Washington told whites his students did not want equal rights, but to learn trades and contribute to Southern prosperity. Tuskegee was allowed to grow. Donations from Northern whites poured in. Washington hosted President William McKinley at Tuskegee, visited President Theodore Roosevelt at the White House, and became an adviser to both on racial matters. He lectured around the country,  and in 1901 published a best-selling autobiography, Up from Slavery. Black intellectuals scoffed at his practice of maintaining influence by flattering whites. Washington used that power to place African-Americans in patronage positions across the country and secretly fund challenges to Jim Crow laws. Booker T. Washington, an African-American who we celebrate today for Black History Month.

Attention All Students,
Yearbook wants your photos. We are in need of photos of your recent travels and your accomplishments. Send your photos to yearbook adviser, Ms. Manculich, at ymanculich@lps.k12.co.us Please include your photos as attachments in the email. Identify who, what, when and where. Yearbook wants to feature YOU so don't hesitate to respond.

Student Council Members:
We will be having our meeting this Wednesday the 10th instead of the 26th. Please see your email for information from Mrs. Sheets

PRIDE Leaders: Please plan to join Mrs. Blake for a quick Google Meet about our next activity on your distance day next Tuesday or Thursday morning at 8:30. Check our Google Classroom for details. Email Mrs. Blake with questions.

This Wednesday is Dining for Dollars at the Southglenn Noodles and Co. from 4 - 8 pm. 25% of qualifying sales that night directly benefit Powell. Make sure you mention our school when ordering and this is not valid for delivery. If ordering online you will need to enter the code GIVING25 at checkout.

Friday, Feb 5

Fri - Feb 5th


February brings Black History Month and we will be recognizing a special African American each day during our announcements. Today we are recognizing

Sojourner Truth (1797-1883)
Sojourner Truth, an escaped slave who lost her family, her first love, and children to slavery, turned her pain and Christian faith into triumph by helping others — especially women — recognize their worth. “That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain’t I a woman? Look at me!” Truth pursued political equality for all women and spoke against other abolitionists for not pursuing civil rights for all black men and women. As the movement advanced, so did Truth’s reputation. Her memoirs — The Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave — were published in 1850 and she toured and spoke before ever-larger crowds. During the Civil War, she helped and recruited black troops for the Union Army, which granted her the opportunity to speak with President Abraham Lincoln. Sojourner Truth, an African-American who we celebrate today for Black History Month.


Attention All Students,
Yearbook wants your photos. We are in need of photos of your recent travels and your accomplishments. Send your photos to the yearbook adviser, Ms. Manculich, at ymanculich@lps.k12.co.us Please include your photos as attachments in the email. Identify who, what, when, and where. Yearbook wants to feature YOU so don't hesitate to respond.

Student Council Members:
Student Council Members we will be having our meeting this Wednesday the 10th instead of the 26th. Please see your email for information from Mrs. Sheets


PRIDE Leaders:
Please plan to join Mrs. Blake for a quick Google Meet about our next activity on your distance day next Tuesday or Thursday morning at 8:30. Check our Google Classroom for details. Email Mrs. Blake with questions.

Thursday, Feb 4

Thurs - Feb 4th


February brings Black History Month and we will be recognizing a special African American each day during our announcements. Today we are recognizing

Jesse Owens (1913-1980)

One of racism’s tragic ironies is that black athletes once needed to prove themselves athletically equal to whites. Heading into the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, before the world fully recognized Adolf Hitler’s genocidal ambitions, the German dictator’s popular theories claimed that no dark-skinned person could compete with the blond-haired, blue-eyed “Aryan master race.” Enter James Cleveland “Jesse” Owens. He almost didn’t make it to Berlin — the United States considered boycotting the Olympics over Hitler’s treatment of Jews, which had not yet reached its incomprehensibly horrific nadir. But many African-Americans opposed a boycott, yearning for validation on a truly level playing field. Owens already owned several world records and was recognized as the fastest man alive. He emerged in Berlin as the unquestioned star of the Olympics, setting or equaling records in the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter sprint, the 400-meter relay and long jump. German crowds enthusiastically applauded his performances, deepening Hitler’s humiliation. It’s unclear whether Hitler directly snubbed Owens by refusing to shake his hand, which has become part of the Owens legend. Olympic organizers told Hitler to either shake all the winners’ hands or none — he chose none. Jesse Owens, an African-American who we celebrate today for black history month.



Attention All Students,
Yearbook wants your photos. We are in need of photos of your recent travels and your accomplishments. Send your photos to yearbook adviser, Ms. Manculich, at ymanculich@lps.k12.co.us Please include your photos as attachments in the email. Identify who, what, when and where. Yearbook wants to feature YOU so don't hesitate to respond.



Student Council Members:
We are changing our February meeting from Wednesday, 10th. Check your email for an update from Mrs. Sheets.

Wednesday, Feb 3

Click here for our daily announcements and Mr. Chavers' Top Ten list for Black History Month - Movie Edition.

Tuesday, Feb 2

Tues - Feb 2nd

February brings Black History Month and we will be recognizing a special African American each day during our announcements. Today we are recognizing

Katherine Johnson (1918-2020)

You know her from the movie, “Hidden Figures”. Katherine Johnson, was a physicist and mathematician who helped launch the first use of digital electronic computers at NASA, the independent federal government agency that handles aerospace research, aeronautics, and the civilian space program. Her wisdom with numbers and accuracy was so highly regarded that her sign-off was paramount for NASA to modernize itself with digital computers. It was Johnson who was plucked out of the pool to work with an all-male flight research team. It was Johnson who helped calculate the orbit for the 1969 Apollo 11 flight to the moon. And it was Johnson who co-authored 26 scientific papers, which NASA still links to via its archives. Katherine Johnson, an African-American who we celebrate today for black history month.

Monday, Feb 1

 Monday, February 1

February brings Black History Month and we will be recognizing a special African American each day during our announcements. Today we are recognizing

Fredrick Douglas. (1818-1895)

Born in Maryland in 1818, the son of a slave mother and a white father, possibly his owner, Douglass escaped bondage by fleeing North. Through his vivid portrayals of brutality, the severing of familial bonds, and mental torture, he documented the iniquity of the peculiar institution and disproved the Southern propaganda of the happy slave. Douglas rose to prominence in the abolitionist movement, partly due to his personal experience of having lived as chattel, but also he knew how to enrapture an audience. One observer described him as strikingly memorable.