Regis Jesuit HS Diversity Conference

On March 12, 2019 School of Breaking was invited for the 4th year to bring Hip Hop culture to the Diversity Conference at Regis Jesuit High School.

 

The purpose of the Diversity Conference is to allow students to have the opportunity to see their peers present on topics where they are passionate. They are challenged by a myriad of workshop presenters on issues ranging in topic from race to immigration to homelessness to gender diversity to adaptive sports.

 

Our squad consisting of Mr. Chase, Mr. Tinman, DJ BMoney, and Mr. Tommy brought some engaging topics to share. We have taught 3 workshops to over 100 students on topics of Hip Hop culture, Breaking, Graffiti, and DJ’ing. It was an exciting opportunity to show students a few old school and new school moves, to teach them how to write their name in graffiti style, and to let them scratch a record on a turntable for the first time.

 

Beyond showcasing skills and explaining each of the elements of Hip Hop culture we believe we have made a connection with students on a personal level when we discussed topics of Peace, Love, Unity and Having Fun and what those things mean to our day-to-day lives.

It never ceases to amaze how many people have heard of Hip Hop, but yet, not many have can describe it. That’s because we are talking about a culture that goes beyond music and entertainment encompassing people of all ethnicities, religions, languages and socio-economic statuses.

We were happy to see a group of students from last year who came back to this year’s workshops for more. Good for them, because during our dance workshops Mr. Chase taught  not only breaking moves, but also super fun social dance moves like Two Step, Cabbage Patch, Charlie Walk, Bart Simpson and others.

It is always exciting to witness when kids who are typically shy to dance try dancing and grooving for the first time, and like it! Even school staff gets into it. During our last workshops of 50+ students, when we were wrapping up our presentation with a big dance circle, one of the teachers came with a trick and busted a nice handstand and blew up the whole crowd.

Overall, it was a day well spent dancing, drawing, listening to loud music, and talking about real life stuff.

 

We want to thank Regis Jesuit High School and especially Christina Vela for organizing such a great day for their students and allow us to be a part of that experience.