Lincoln’s 13th annual Brotherhood/Sisterhood Assembly (BSA) took place on Thursday, March 24 in the school auditorium. The approximately hour-and-a-half long mandatory assembly was performed twice, so students in each group, 3A or 3B, could attend. There was also a special performance Thursday night for a small admission fee. Twenty-six clubs were involved in the BSA this year, with first-time participants like the Gay/Straight Alliance.

The BSA first started 13 years ago because of an unfortunate incident caused by cultural differences. In the fall of 1992, Lincoln received new administration, with Gwen Chan as the principal, whose job was to create a way to bring students together.

“When Ms. Chan came, she decided to nix all the individual assemblies and have one big shebang, calling it Brotherhood/Sisterhood and allowing it to be the vehicle where students could really mix, over months of planning to be able to pull off something like this. So 13 years later, it’s going strong,” activities director Rosemary Kamkar said.

Since then, the BSA has become a prominent tradition at Lincoln. The assembly has become one of the biggest attractions of the year, for both current students and alumni. The Associated Student Body (ASB) planned out the details of the assembly for four months, and clubs could be seen practicing their moves in the hallways almost every day after school.

The assembly’s theme changes each year, but the message is always positive, encouraging tolerance and peace, which was the main purpose of the BSA.

“I so much believe in it [the BSA] that I think it’s the most important thing we do at this school, besides teach academics. Academics are important, but learning how to get along with other people is probably even more important, because when you’re 27, no one’s going to give you an English test or a math test. You just have to learn how to be tolerant and how to get along. I think it has a positive effect, not only on the students, but on the families of the students,” Kamkar said.

Even now, 13 years later, the original message still gets out. This year’s theme, “Got Heart?,” came straight from Lincoln’s tsunami relief fundraiser that was held in the past couple of months. With all the dedication that students and teachers showed for the production of the BSA, Lincoln really showed that it does “got heart.”