2025 (2nd) Annual SANKOFA CHALLENGE

This year Hapeville’s Charter Academy Social Studies Department will host its 2nd Annual Sankofa quiz bowl. This African American History quiz bowl invites all clubs and organizations, and individual student groups, are encouraged to participate. Each team will consist of no more than 5 students. There is a $25 registration fee. There is a cash award of $150 for the top team. Each team must have an adult coach. The first round will begin on Saturday, February 1st, 2024. The championship round will be held Friday, February 28, 2025 during 4B period (tentative dates). You can register online via QR codes posted around the school. You also can see Mr. Omowale for more details.

SANKOFA quiz bowl has the symbol that refers to the story of the sankofa bird, a creature in the mythology of the Akan people of West Africa. Flying forward while facing backward and carrying an egg in its mouth, it reminds us that in order to understand our present and ensure our future, we must know our past.

It is not taboo to go back and fetch what you forgot, did not know, or were not taught. This means that it is not only acceptable, but mandatory to go back and retrieve the history of our ancestors and roots. Ultimately, this allows the community we live in to move forward. That is, why should reach back and gather the best of what our past has to teach us, so that we can achieve our full potential as we move forward, as a unit. Whatever we have lost, forgotten, forgone or been stripped of, can be reclaimed, revived, preserved and perpetuated.

Understanding how the present emerged out of the past helps us to make choices and take actions that can shape our future. This is what scholars call “agency,” taking informed action to impact one’s own milieu. Such work is more important than ever, as we confront the challenges in our community