Several students from Ocean Academy participated in the “Facing Racism” student art project sponsored by “cchange” at Brookdale Community College.  The exhibit opened Sunday, April 10th and will continue through December 16th.  Many local schools, along with OA contributed to the exhibit.  Each school submitted an artistic “face” of racism, as well as an essay demonstrating their stand against racism.

We are very proud of our students; the following is Ocean Academy’s submission which has been published in the program:

Working together we wanted to express that racism is something that affects people of all races.  We believe that racism is harmful both emotionally and physically. We believe that it is our responsibility as a world, a nation, and a community to educate others about racism and open up a dialogue of positive communication.  Our face is covered with the negative attitudes and misconceptions about race. This face of racism cannot see or speak because they are silenced by the harmful effects of racism.  The swirls of color represent the races of the world; the positive statements are the beginning of our positive communication about race.  The fish represent “us” the students and staff that make up the community of Ocean Academy.  We realize that communication about and action against racism begins in our own community.  From our community we can bring the message to the nation and world. What we like best is that we were able to make ourselves part of the piece by representing Ocean Academy through the use of the fish.  It reminds us of the part all of us should play in ending racism.  We learned that by working together and collaborating we can learn from each other and accomplish great things.  We would like to think that this lesson is also one to spread as a way to work towards ending racism.

(Contributing Teachers – E Catalano, D Damm)