By Myiesha Manzoor and Jasmyn Billy
This last Friday in the Performing Arts Center on April 25th, 2025, the Ethnic Studies and Social Justice Academy’s (ESSJ) students hosted James Logan’s annual Take Back the Mic event! Take Back the Mic is a talent show that happens every year during the spring season of the school year and it is mainly hosted by the senior ESSJ cohort. This talent show combines creativity and social justice themes, thus, it is a great opportunity for showcasing cultural skills, hidden talents, and inspiring stories. Singing, dancing, skits, and more are able to captivate audiences with their variety and excitement. The students of ESSJ are proud to host this year’s Take Back the Mic for all to enjoy.
“Take Back the Mic is an event that ‘takes back the mic from the master narrative;’ the purpose is to highlight the minority groups and the counter narratives. It’s to represent what society has silenced and has flourished into an event where we are able to see different cultures,” says sophomore Collin Shaw. His ESSJ cohort worked hard to prepare their skit that was performed at the event. “We created a skit to represent capitalistic society and how it can corrupt people,” he adds, describing the theme his specific class focused on. Each ESSJ cohort is required to plan and perform a skit at the event and the sophomore’s performance went very well.
“Take Back the Mic for me is meaningful in the sense that it brings all of us as students together. It’s like celebrating what we care about and who we are,” says junior Jaden Ortiz. The junior cohort also worked very hard to create an event that is just as meaningful and community-focused as it was in the years prior. “We created our skit around the classic novel Animal Farm,” he adds, explaining what his class specifically focused on for their skit that was performed that night.
ESSJ’s senior cohort didn’t just focus on their skit, which was based on Hairspray, but also the logistics of the event. This is one of the last events the senior ESSJ class will get to host so they made sure it went smoothly while being very enjoyable. “You got to support us as a class and our passions in ESSJ, it’s like the last piece of the seniors,” says senior Kim Luna. They are very thankful to the families and the communities that came to the event to support.
Thank you to everyone who joined the ESSJ students for James Logan’s annual Take Back the Mic event, we hope to see you there next year!
