Photo Feature: Minority Scholars Program Retreat 2023

Andrea Ferrufino

MSP and all town hall attendees gather for a picture together at the end before heading to the cafeteria for pizza.

Montgomery County’s Minority Scholars Program (MSP) hosted its annual Retreat at Northwest High School on Saturday, March 18.

Over 1,000 students, teachers, and school administrators came out to learn about racial inequities and celebrate the voices and talents of Montgomery County’s minority students. High, middle, and elementary schools across Montgomery County, as well as some schools from Frederick County were represented at the event.

This year’s program included various workshops for students to rotate through, educational talks (or “Ed-Talks”) from students on their perspective as a minority, and various performances from students sharing their talents to a lively auditorium.

Since the beginning of the school year, MSP students have attended monthly Task Force meetings dedicated to planning and preparing for this event. Representatives from different MSP school chapters came together to design workshops in order for students to gain a deeper understanding of the systems of racism at work in our school institutions.

This year’s workshop topics included Unity and Community, What is Racism, Anti-racism, and Restorative Justice. MSP representatives taught new ideas and terminology, initiated discussions, and led activities to teach other students about relevant county issues and build community within the larger MSP organization.