Leonardo Lopez
Contributing Writer
Gerald Ford, the 38th president of the United States, officially recognized February as Black History Month in 1976. Since then, the month has been dedicated to acknowledging and celebrating the contributions and accomplishments that African Americans have had on the nation. However, with the Covid-19 pandemic and the current practice of social distancing, Broward College has found a creative way to provide an educational and entertaining way to celebrate Black History.
Continuing BC’s celebration of Black History Month, Student Life organized the Black History Month: Knowledge is Power Trivia Contest, which was virtually held on Feb. 16.
Hosted by Tiffany Irving, the Student Life coordinator at the South Campus, the trivia event was presented in a Kahoot! Format.
“My goal was to pick a [Kahoot quiz] with questions that I hoped students could answer… I liked that [this Kahoot!] gave an explanation after it asked the question. The students could learn from it and could see [graphics],” Irving said about selecting the quiz.
During the event, 33 BC students put their knowledge of Black History to the test. The trivia game featured 42 questions which had topics that ranged from sports, literature, history and music. The top three students who received the highest points would then go on to win their choice of either one of two paintings, a framed poster of rapper Nipsey Hussle or Student Life items (t-shirts, bottles, etc.).
“Throughout February, I wanted to have programs for Black History Month that were fun, but they also provided history, knowledge and touched on social justice,” Irving said. “[With this trivia contest], I hope that students got to test their knowledge and if they didn’t know an answer, they would learn about that particular [topic] and are able to capture and retain [the information],” she added.
Lizette Powell, senior student and secretary of the Broward College Paralegal Eagles Club, heard that BC was hosting Black History events from her fellow officers.
“I was so interested to learn more about it. I would love to learn more about my heritage. When I found out there was also going to be a trivia contest, I wanted to see how much I knew about my history,” she said.
Earning her title as the second-place victor, Powell said that she really enjoyed discovering that she knew more about Black History Month than she had previously anticipated.
“I believe that Black History is valuable information to learn because it will always be a part of the History of this country… in our history, we have a culture filled with love and hope. For [African Americans], when there was a dream that [they] wanted [to fulfill], they would always work hard to make sure that those dream could come true…People need to know all of the struggles [African Americans] had to face in trying to [fulfill] their dreams,” said Powell.
Though Broward College has presented similar events that were held virtually in the past such as the comedy and trivia contest last August, this is the first to do so on the topic of Black History Month. The college also presented another virtual competition in honor of Women’s History Month called: Women’s History Month: Leading Ladies trivia contest.
