Annandale will host a student-led race panel to commemorate Black History Month and examine the ideals behind race in the 21st century tonight Feb. 19.

The program which is being hosted in partnership with the Black Cultural Awareness Association (BCAA) is being spearheaded by #RealTalk – a venture started by Annandale students through the non-profit organization LearnServe.

“I created #RealTalk two years ago as a means to get teenagers talking. The venture in itself is a really simple idea. We aim to bring panels, whether they may be student led or from outside sources to local high schools across the area to get students talking about issues prevalent in their societies today,” senior and Founder of #RealTalk Omnia Saed said.

Last year, the group hosted a Religion Panel in partnership with the Muslim Student Association, which was a resounding success.

“We decided to go with a racial discussion as the focus for our panel because we thought that it was such a widespread topic that affects teenagers on a daily basis. Take a look on Twitter and you can see subliminal racial divisions. And over the summer when the Trayvon Martin case took the world by storm we took note of the teenage response that was so prevalent. ” senior Tahani Yosuf and member of #RealTalk said.

“I think the Trayvon Martin case became such a monumental key in opening the door to the examination of race for teenagers in the 21st century. We’ve grown up in a society post the Civil Rights Movement that hears about the fight for racial equality in our textbooks,” Saed said. “But with the [Trayvon Martin] case no matter what stance you took on it, it was such a relatable story. He was a teenager, someone our age, and most importantly and eye-openingly he was profiled,” Saed said.

The event will start off with a student panel, followed by discussion questions and activities. Questions include: How segregated a life do most of you lead now? As well as questions regarding racial interactions during school, realizations about racial differences, and questions on perception of race in the media.

The event is also expected to be filmed by news channel ABC7.

“What’s really great about this event is that it will be filmed and so AHS students have the opportunity to let their voices be heard by an even larger audience than those in Clausen Hall” senior Aysha Ghaffar and member of #RealTalk said.

“It’s going to be an extremely informative and interesting conversation. I think we just want everyone to be able to feel free to voice their opinions but also hopefully learn something along the way,” Saed said.