The Brotherhood/Sisterhood Assembly is a great deal at Abraham Lincoln High School. But what makes this assembly so special? Students commonly find themselves pondering over this question. Well, an apparent reason would be that you get to miss class and watch all your friends perform.

Let’s dig deeper, past the apparent ideas that float on the surface. This assembly brings people together in the best possible way. The BSA is a beautiful way of incorporating students of all social and racial backgrounds, allowing them to work together on one single project. The result is nothing short of amazing. Not only is the actual assembly valued, but also the process of preparing for the performance, including countless weeks, even months practicing, and interacting with people from other clubs whom you wouldn’t normally associate with is reflected entirely in this diverse assembly.

“My favorite part about the BSA is that no matter what goes on stage, it’s what happens behind the stage that really matters. You end up spending a lot of time with a lot of kids that you probably would not have mixed with. You sit through meetings initially and then through practices and rehearsals, or you watch each other practice around the campus, and then you perform, and this whole process just brings them together,” ASB director, Rosemary Kamkar said.

The process of practicing for the BSA is where the magic happens. Throughout the entire process of preparing for the assembly, many begin to witness student forming bonds, or just simply getting to know each other by meeting new people, and coming together with one another to form the BSA. As a result of ASB’s goal, the BSA tears down many barriers between students. This demonstrates the idea and theme of the 15th Annual BSA, “We’re All in This Together.”

Several changes have been made in the BSA to make this year special. Normally, the majority of the ethnic groups from Lincoln would perform a hip-hop act, or anything along the lines of being contemporary. This year, Aluk is trying to encourage ethnic clubs to do an ethnic act that relates to their own culture, and not something that relates to the mainstream media of today.

“The strengths of the ethnic clubs were in showing their culture. We’re hoping that the biggest change is that the cultural clubs are going to really do three minutes of culture. We’re having each of the ethnic clubs also do a poster or banner that portrays them also that’s being done in the auditorium lobby,” ASB Director and Varsity Gold Show Choir teacher Shawn Aluk said.

This year’s BSA also combines the themes of the previous years together. ASB has been working hard at making posters of the artwork in the past assemblies, which will be placed in the auditorium lobby.

For those who are not familiar with the BSA, it’s an assembly consisting of several different ethnic groups and clubs giving us a peak of their culture. However, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. This major event incorporates the entire student body working together. The BSA fully shows the diversity of our school, with each club displaying their own unique beliefs and culture. It’s the most anticipated and rehearsed event at Lincoln High. With each year outdoing the one before, there is no doubt that this year will be better than ever. Around the beginning of February, students begin planning for this notable event. In some cases, clubs like The Varsity Gold Show Choir have practiced since the beginning of the school year, just to prepare for this assembly. For some clubs, it’s the pique of activeness in their clubs. For others, it’s the day where their year-long hard work finally pays off. Recognizing every diverse club we have, the BSA is one of the prides of Lincoln, notably bigger than anything else this school has put up annually.

Think of each student in this school as a piece of a complex, elaborate puzzle. When you bring them all together, fitting every piece all according to their nodules and crevices, you get this beautiful picture, with each student being a piece of that overall view. This just about sums up what Abraham Lincoln High School really is: a beautiful picture, where every student is a piece of, and everybody has a place to fit in. The Unity Wall, which will be located outside of the auditorium, completely illustrates this idea and also including in the past as well. Practically everything that has shaped what our school is today is included as a piece on this wall and leaves nothing in the dark.

The theme of this year’s BSA, “We’re All in This Together,” was originally a song from the movie, “High School Musical.” This further establishes the purpose of BSA because its main goal is to bring everybody together.

“I thought the theme was cheesy at first, but I listened to the words, and it really applies to what we’re all about. So I thought; why not use that as our theme, I just makes sense to make it our theme,” Aluk said.

The most vital part of the BSA that’s remained unchanged has been the ethnic groups, which in turn represent the school’s diversity. The emphasis on the ethnic groups shows their diversity and a glimpse of their culture to the student body. Every ethnic club is recommended to participate in this event. However, this doesn’t necessarily always happen. This year the Russian Club and Belly Dancing club chose not to represent themselves in the assembly.

The Unity Wall is what’s under the spotlight for this year’s BSA. Back in the late 90’s the director at the time of our peer resource program, VanWinkle, worked with an artist from the community who did projects for peace. Peer resource and student government together had a great idea to make a Unity Wall, with the intent of increasing the peace, where an artist was hired as a paid consultant. The clubs involved in the BSA ten years ago were invited to go to a workshop the consultant ran, where they learned about not only artwork on the tiles, but peace. This workshop gave people a complete understanding of peace, why it’s important, and how it breaches out. Each 6-by-6-inch tile piece was decorated by a diverse array of clubs. Initially, the Unity Wall was planned to be placed outside of the breezeway. However, this project was abruptly deferred because of a decision made by The Board of Education regarding expenses. Now, ten years later, Kamkar and Aluk have both decided to bring back out the tiles and completely restore them to finish off what was left off ten years ago. Throughout the years, attempts were made to finish the Unity Wall. However, none of them succeeded. Tile additions were made when the assistant principle passed away in a diving accident, which constitutes a block of four tiles with his picture on them.

“Mr. Aluk and I always had [the tile project] in the back of our mind that this is something that kids back in the late 90’s, this also has tiles made by the class of 2000, 2002. It was updated throughout the years,” Kamkar said.

With the help from the Men’s Civic Organization, who donated a generous grant in the fall of 2006 to help fund for all of this, the Unity Wall was re-launched, with complete intent to be finished—even on a tight schedule. The basic goal of the Unity Wall now is to represent the school’s diversity. This would also provide great aesthetic value to our school.

“You forget how gorgeous it is until you see it restored, it’s really nice and you put it all together and it’s one of those things where you can stand and stare at it,” Kamkar said.