Members of Black Student Union (BSU) will be learning about topics on African American history for a Black History Challenge hosted by Vegas Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) to have a chance at winning $1,000 for their club.

The SWCTA BSU team  won first place in the preliminary round against 5 other schools on Feb 2. They will be competing against Foothill High School in the final round, which will be broadcast on Feb. 13 at PBS Studios.

“The Black History Month Challenge is a way for students to compete while learning about different parts of Black history. Members have the opportunity to participate, be more involved in the community and represent our school,” Team Leader Hellen Beyene said. “I plan to have practice [sessions] that are extremely similar to the real thing so that my team is very prepared for the competition.”

Participants will be learning about and studying a variety of topics, including ancient African royalty, youth in the Civil Rights movement, slave revolts, African American Influence on culture, fashion, dandyism and the Harlem Renaissance.

“[One topic that I look forward to covering] is ancient royalty in Africa,” junior Atronos Solomon said. “This is something that is really interesting to me. I’m taking AP African American Studies and we [covered that] in the beginning of the year. This class definitely piqued my interest in terms of learning about Black history, spreading the knowledge to others and pushed me to join the competition.”

Students who have not taken AP African American Studies have the opportunity to learn some of its content with others during teams’ designated study days. 

“As a Black woman, I didn’t even know some of the information that we are studying for this challenge,” junior Jamille Westley said. “[I get the chance to] learn more about my own culture and history and show everyone how influential black culture has been. [The event] helps raise awareness of issues that have happened in the past and that are [currently] happening.”

One goal of this event is to spread awareness and debunk misleading notions pertaining to African American culture. Coach Jessica Kelly will be helping students obtain accurate information for the challenge.

“I’m passionate about any opportunity to learn more about the African American community, [especially] when we can learn about things that have happened in Las Vegas or make connections to our AP class,” Kelly said. “There are people trying to attempt the erasure of history that we fought so hard for and we need to highlight these types of challenges and opportunities for students.”

The event will showcase the history and customs of African Americans to educate viewers.

“It’s important to learn about different cultures because it helps you be more empathetic and understanding of other people,” Westley said. ”Understanding the differences and similarities between you and someone who’s unlike you makes you more open-minded and less likely to be prejudiced.”

BSU hopes that by participating in this challenge, it will strengthen the school community and build student relationships.

“[It has] created a good opportunity for [my peers and I] to bond. It’s good that our general members also get the chance to participate in things like this,” Solomon said. “At the end of the day, our club is not just board members, most of us are general members. It shows a better representation of us as a club and of us as a school.