Flexing the community muscle: Banda brings in a slew of speakers

English and special education teacher Marita Banda is excited to be heading up a new after-school Flex Block that brings community speakers to ARHS on a regular basis.

What she looks for when thinking about who to invite is people who might “want to come in and enrich our school as a community.” 

She also wants to educate people about “things that we wouldn’t normally see or hear about in a normal school day, things students are not getting in their regular classes.”

Banda has a few ways to invite these people to school. “What I’ve seen with people in the Amherst community and surrounding areas is that there are people that want to come in, they just don’t know how to make that connection,” she said.

She thinks her job is “to let these people know that they can come in and share what they want to share.”

Some people she has invited include Justin Beatty, a Native American artist who founded the Odenong Pow-Wow and who “specializes in abstract landscapes while including his own touch of culture.” 

“Each period he talked about his life experiences, his tribe, and also being Black and Native American,” she said. “He also talked about his process of making art.” His art was displayed in the library during Indigenous Peoples Month. 

Banda also said she invited a band called Gaia Roots, a drumming group focusing on Afro-Latino rhythms. Her brother, Mtali Banda, a musician working on his PhD, will be coming in next month as well. 

Events are held in the library, the auditorium, or her classroom. She said she’d like to bring in “more people from the five colleges, including staff and professors.” 

Before winter break, Banda also invited a friend, Aimee Salmon Lunanga, owner of Positively Africana store and fitness business in Thorne’s Marketplace to do Zumba with the members of Best Buddies, a club she advises, on December 14. 

“I’m very involved in the community and I enjoy connecting with others and evolving myself,” she said.