The Stories Behind the Islanders Black History Month Patches

The Black History Month Patch Program Design Contest is part of the New York Islanders' mission to increase diversity and inclusion throughout the Islanders organization. This program began in the 2020-21 season where talented 5th graders from the Elmont, Hempstead and Uniondale School Districts share their definition of what Black History means to them and incorporate the Islanders in their artwork.
This program is also an extension of the Islanders commitment to giving back to communities. Patches are given to the winning schools for the students to choose a worthy cause to give back to. The patches are also sold in Isles Lab to be donated to an organization in need.
See the winning patches from 2022 and 2023 and learn about the talented scholars who created them!
Ezri B | Edward I | Dalensky L | Adele D | Keyana R | Sawera U | Denesha S

Ezri B. | Elmont School District

2022 Black History Month Patch Winner
What grade were you in when you designed the patch?5th grade
Fun Fact about yourself.I learned to sign when I was about three years old!
What was your Inspiration for your patch design?My inspiration for the patch was to show that we can all be united by playing games that we love like hockey.
What is your favorite part of the patch?My favorite part was the hands coming together to make a heart.
What does it mean to you to have your design chosen?It means a lot to me that my design got chosen because I am honored to represent my school.
Did you know about the New York Islanders before the Patch Program?I did know a little bit about the New York Islanders before, but I know a little bit more now than I did after doing the patch design.
Favorite hockey player if you have one. I don't have a favorite hockey player.

Edward I. | Elmont School District

2022 Black History Month Patch Winner
What grade were you in when you designed the patch?5th grade
Fun Fact about yourself.I tend to be energetic and adventurous.
What was your Inspiration for your patch design?My inspirations were last year's winners and the Stanley Cup.
What is your favorite part of the patch?The Cup in the middle.
What does it mean to you to have your design chosen?It means a lot to see other people enjoy my work.
Did you know about the New York Islanders before the Patch Program?I did! I'm not obsessed over them, but I do like them.
Favorite hockey player if you have one. I don't have a favorite, but I think they're all amazing.

Dalensky L. | Uniondale School District

2022 Black History Month Patch Winner
What grade were you in when you designed the patch? 5th grade
Fun fact about yourself. I like watching horror movies. My favorite movie is Friday the 13th.
What was your inspiration for your patch design? The fist represents the voices of African Americans. The colors represent the colors of Black History Month.
What is your favorite part of the patch?The fist is my favorite part of the patch because it was the most difficult part of creating the patch. I had to use YouTube to figure out how to create it. It was hard.
What does it mean to you to have your design chosen? I am representing not only my family, but everyone too. Also, all of my hard work paid off.
Did you know about the New York Islanders before this patch program? I'd heard of the NY Islanders, but I got to learn more through the patch contest. I learned more about hockey.
Favorite hockey player if you have one? I don't know any players yet, but if I did, it would probably be the captain because I like that they lead the team.

Adele D. | Elmont School District

2023 Black History Month Patch Winner
What grade were you in when you designed the patch? 5th grade
Fun fact about yourself. When I was smaller, I used to create stories in notebooks (I have 20 filled out).
What was your Inspiration for your patch design? I chose the colors that symbolize black history month. The colors are red, yellow, green, and black. Red represents innocent black lives lost throughout history. Yellow represents optimism, justice and equality, and green represents rich greenery and natural resources. Black symbolizes resilience. I added the hockey player to represent the NY Islanders.
What is your favorite part of the patch?The hockey player.
What does it mean to you to have your design chosen?It makes me happy and proud to know that my design will be used to represent Black History Month.
Did you know about the New York Islanders before the patch program?Yes, they did an assembly program at our school.
Favorite hockey player if you have one. I don't have a favorite hockey player, but because my design was selected, I'm now a big fan.

Keyana R. | Elmont School District

2023 Black History Month Patch Winner
What grade were you in when you designed the patch? 5th Grade
Fun fact about yourself. I Like cats and dogs.
What was your inspiration for your patch design?Since my family is diverse, it inspired me to create something that shows unity.
What is your favorite part of the patch?The arms and holding hands.
What does it mean to you to have your patch chosen? It means a lot to me to have my patch chosen for consideration because it shows that my creativity was good enough for the NY Islanders to wear as a patch.
Did you know about the New York Islanders before this patch program? I know who the Islanders are because my dad watches hockey.

Sawera U. | Elmont School District

2023 Black History Month Patch Winner
What grade were you in when you designed the patch?5th Grade
Fun fact about yourself:I'm Pakistani-American.
What was your inspiration for your patch design? It was the first thing when I thought about what I wanted to do!
What is your favorite part of the patch?The hands holding the logo are my favorite!
What does it mean to you to have our patch chosen?I feel honored to have my patch chosen.
Did you know about the New York Islanders before this patch program? I've heard about them many times before.
Favorite hockey player if you have one. I like them all the same!

Denesha S. | Hempstead School District

2023 Black History Month Patch Winner
What grade were you in when you designed the patch?5th Grade
Fun fact about yourself.I really like to watch TV because I can learn life lessons from it.
What was your inspiration for your patch design? My inspiration for my patch design is myself. I based off the character on myself if I had straight hair.
What is your favorite part of the patch?My favorite part of the patch is the outfit of the character because I also like to design clothes.
What does it mean to you to have your design chosen?It really means a lot to me because it is a very big life achievement for me.
Did you know about the New York Islanders before this patch program? No I did not know about the New York Islanders before this patch program.
Favorite hockey player if you have one.I do not have a favorite hockey player because I do not know that much about hockey.