Three teenage girls from Columbus on an adventure of “firsts” were among passengers on a jet departing the Birmingham airport July 3. None in the trio of Columbus High School students had flown before. None had ever ventured so far from home, yet Amber Gardner, Keara Williams and Kiyanna Curry were headed to San Diego, California, to represent their school, city and state at the FCCLA National Leadership Conference.
The young women are members of Family, Career and Community Leadership of America as part of their Early Childhood Education class at McKellar Technology Center. They earned the opportunity to make a presentation at the national event by winning first place in the category of illustrated talk at the FCCLA State Conference in Jackson.
“They created an illustrated talk entitled ‘I Am Not My Hair’ which they hoped would encourage their peers and African American women not to link their identity to their hair,” said Becky Kinard, the students’ Early Childhood Education instructor. She accompanied the girls on the trip.
Gardner, 17, proposed the presentation topic.
“I chose it because I had cut my hair in the 10th grade; it was drastically shorter and no longer straight,” said Gardner, recounting the marked difference the change made to her appearance and how she and others viewed it. “I thought it would be a topic other girls could relate to.”
Her hair transformation initially made Gardner feel vulnerable among her contemporaries.
“I knew I was doing something others might not like, and if people said they didn’t like it, it made it hard. But I realized that if I liked it, it didn’t matter,” the high school senior said.
The students developed the theme of hair and its role in self-esteem, especially among young African American women.
“We wanted to talk about how all hair types should be accepted, whether natural, perms, weaves … it’s all beautiful,” said Gardner.
The trio created visual aids and a brochure to accompany the talk, which they presented at school and at the Columbus library in preparation for state and then national competition. They even included a clip of India Arie’s Grammy-nominated 2005 song, “I Am Not My Hair.” A portion of the lyrics are “I am not my hair. I am not this skin. I am a soul that lives within.”
The girls received gold medals in San Diego for their talk, the highest award possible.
Williams, 16, shared a favorite memory from the national event. “It was seeing the judges’ faces when we were presenting and how interested and into what we were saying they were.”
Eye-opening
Speaking in front of increasingly larger audiences was a new and confidence-inspiring experience for the students, as was seeing the West Coast for the first time.
“I was scared at first, but I saw people were friendly, and I thought ‘You can do this,'” said Curry, a 16-year-old CHS junior. Seeing sites including the Pacific Ocean, Hollywood, the Sunset Strip and Beverly Hills was revelatory.
“It’s changed me,” said Curry. “I would like to travel now; now I’m opened up more to seeing different things and people.”
Gardner added, “It makes you think broader. When you’re used to Columbus, Mississippi, and you see something as big and bright as California, you start to think differently; you don’t have to confine yourself to one part of your brain.”
The state and national awards are testaments to the students’ hard work, Kinard said, adding that the three teens are “precious girls” grateful for the opportunities for leadership they have had.
“Mr. Chris Bray, McKellar’s director, along with Columbus Municipal School District’s leadership and board were supportive every step of the way,” the teacher remarked.
Like all the students’ parents, Curry’s mother, Shalandra Curry, is proud of the young women who represented their school and the South.
“They got a chance to go and show we are Southerners and we are smart, intelligent and very friendly,” she said. “I’m glad they got to shine, not only for their school, but for the city of Columbus.”
Jan Swoope is the Lifestyles Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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