February is Black History Month and the students at the Altoona Area High School have their black history month projects on display on the 14th Street cross walk. 

 

Donald Witherspoon, the president of the Blair County NAACP, came to the unveiling of the school’s projects and hopes the iconic stories can leave an impact on the students. 

 

“We’ve come a long way and we still have a long way to go,” Witherspoon said. “It’s people that are on these posters that made a difference in our community and hopefully that is going to benefit the students here at Altoona Area High School.” 

 

Trena Johnson is inspired by the heroics of Rosa Parks and believes the project can teach the community to continue getting passed the color barrier. 

 

“We are all one race and we are trying to move towards success,” Johnson said. “I think that it’s important and people need to realize that it doesn’t matter the color of your skin… we have one goal in mind and that is the success of the human race.” 

 

Another senior sees the efforts made by black history icons as the reason for the progress that led to where the nation is today. 

 

“I think it is really important that we recognize the sacrifice the incredible people have made and that we come together as one group because we wouldn’t be able to do the things we do today, we wouldn’t be where we are without the sacrifices these people made,” Taylor Berardi said.

 

Johnson believes she can look at the stories on these posters for inspiration for perseverance. 

 

“It’s important today in our society that we do have good representation of what we can do if we put our minds to it and if we dare to overcome the adversity that is facing us,” Johnson said.