The sounds and rhythms of West Africa traveled through the hallways of Cedar Canyon Elementary School last Monday.
Renowned musician Bernard Woma and his African dance troupe, Saakumu, spent the day teaching students how to dance and drum, Ghanaian style. At a school-wide assembly, Woma and his group had many of the school’s 390 kids grinning widely. Some clapped and stomped in the bleachers to the beat of the drums, others rushed to the gym floor and formed lines behind the troupe members, who guided them through dances as they circled the gym.
“The kids have been sweating like pigs all day,” Principal Phil Downs said. “But they’re loving it; they’re picking it up well.”
Woma, who was born in Ghana but spent the last two decades living in New York, is pursuing a master’s degree at Indiana University. He’s performed for former President Bill Clinton, former South African President Nelson Mandela and Queen Elizabeth II and was recently designated the cultural resource person for President Obama’s family when they visited Ghana, according to his Web site.
Woma has been to Cedar Canyon twice now, largely because of a connection with former music teacher Jason Slone, Downs said. The two met in Africa when Slone was studying music there.
Now Slone’s wife, Aimee, is the music teacher. On Monday, she helped Woma and his dancers, all wearing their traditional dress, twirl their arms and move their feet to the music.
“I thought it was amazing how they could move like that and beat so fast on the drums,” a panting fourth-grader, Emily Ross, said after the assembly.
“I thought we would just be sitting and watching, but they made it fun, so we could dance and participate.”
Students who missed the performance can see Woma when he returns to the school in April.
Events
•Carroll High School, 3701 Carroll Road, will hold a spring college fair from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the school cafeteria.
•Homestead High School, 4310 Homestead Road, will hold a spring college fair from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
•Kids On the Go Preschool, 6513 E. State Blvd., will hold an open house from 9 to 11 a.m. and 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday. Call 260-485-1600 for more information.
Recognitions
•Tom Grimes and his teammates won the $20,000 top prize in the Student Corn Product Innovation Competition at Purdue University.
•John Marks, Concordia Lutheran High School principal, is the 2010 recipient of the Paul Lange Award.
Registration
•The Metropolitan School District of Steuben County is asking parents to call their elementary school if they did not register their child at kindergarten roundup. A child must be 5 years of age by Aug. 1, 2010, to attend.
Huntington University
•The university’s EXCEL adult degree programs will hold an informational meeting from 6 to 7 p.m. today in room 125 of Science Hall.
Ivy Tech Community College
•Maria Tsakova, assistant professor of writing at Ivy Tech in Fort Wayne, will speak as part of Women’s History Month about her life in Communist Bulgaria from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday in the Student Life Center conference center on the North Campus, 4900 St. Joe Road.
•An Interfaith Forum will be from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m. Wednesday in Room 513 of the Student Life Center on the North Campus.
IPFW
•The new immigrant literacy program will present the parent workshop “Healthy Homes and Healthy Schools” from 10:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Saturday in Neff Hall, Room 333. Child care will be available.
•Nick Johnson, area director with the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, will present “From the Church to the Masjid: A Comparative Look at Islam and Christianity” from noon to 1:15 p.m. Thursday in Walb Student Union, rooms 114-116.
•The Department of Communications Sciences and Disorders will host “Deaf, Deaf World,” an evening of immersion into the deaf culture, from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday in the Walb Student Union Ballroom.
Defiance College
The Defiance College and city of Defiance are sponsoring a year-long town-and-gown series on the War of 1812. Donald Buerk, associate professor of history, will present “The Coming of the War” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Schomburg Auditorium.
Brown Mackie College
•An education day for prospective students will be 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the college, 3000 Coliseum Blvd. E. For more information, call Ty Cooley at 260-484-4400 or 260-481-5000.
