Ours to Tell Conference: Celebrating Black History with student-led learning and presentations at St. Anne CES

Apr. 7, 2025

From learning songs to showcasing art and teaching fellow students about Black leaders in history, the ‘Ours to Tell’ conference at St. Anne Catholic Elementary School in Peterborough featured school-wide student-led learning and presentations.

This was the second year for the conference at St. Anne CES where six classes took part in the event.

“It’s student-led and it really shows the students are ready to share the learning they’ve done and it reinforces the concepts they’ve learned,” said Melanie Bergeron Langlois, Principal.

“The theme for Black History Month in February this year was ‘Ours to Tell’. Building off that, we decided to hold a student-driven conference,” said Adam White, Vice-Principal. “The kids learned about those who you don’t hear about often. You don’t always hear the stories about the people who went about their everyday lives but opened doors and pushed that limit of acceptance a little bit further.”

In the Grade 5 class, students picked a historical figure, whether well known or not, and did research about who they were and what their contributions were to society.

Those students then presented their findings to other Grade 5 and 6 students who visited their classroom.

Grade 5 student Alexis Adams did her project on Rosemary Brown, Canada’s first Black female member of a provincial legislature and the first woman to run for leadership of a federal political party.

“She helped out a lot of people who were in wheelchairs and who were sick by improving services for them,” Alexis said. “It inspires me that she stood up for people and didn’t think about what the impact on her life would be.”

Isaac Friesen did his project on Josiah Henson, an American author who was born into slavery in the 1700s.

Henson escaped to Upper Canada in 1830 where he would eventually become a leader for his community.

“He was just doing what was right and he just kept on going,” Isaac said.

Colton McGrath did his presentation on Sam Langford, a boxer from Nova Scotia.

“Sam was punched in his left eye and was blinded but never missed a fight and he overcame that,” Colton said.

In the Grade 4 classroom, students created artwork inspired by American painter Alma Thomas.

In the Kindergarten classroom, students sang songs including “Wavin’ Flag” by Knaan, which rose to fame during the World Cup of Soccer in 2010.

“It shifts the culture. We are doing this in April and it tells us that learning about Black history happens all the time and in all classrooms. It’s not just one month,” White added.