(Photo/Olivia Ryan’18)

Academy’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Assembly to honor Dr King’s leadership in the Civil Rights Movement took a new and active form on January 13.

Instead of gathering as a whole school for 30 minutes as in previous years, students, faculty, and staff  participated in a simulated Civil Rights march, followed by a shorter assembly.

At the beginning of the day, students convened in one of five locations to make signs expressing values of equality, human dignity, peacefulness, community, and empathy. Each location was named after one of the epicenters of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. The US library was Birmingham, the all-grade upper school lounge was Atlanta, the gallery space was Memphis, the Dining Hall fire place area was Montgomery, and the main Dining Hall area was Chicago.

Once the signs were completed, the march started, beginning in the Dining Hall to each “city,” gathering the whole school together to head to The Mack, where the rest of MLK’s celebration would continue.

During the march, students held up their signs and chanted, “Want to know what all the fuss is about? We are standing up for justice.” and “Come on everyone, rise above, shout for peace, shout for love.”

In the gym, students viewed a video of MLK and some of his famous quotes followed by a beautifully executed dance by the Leap of Faith Dance Studio and choreographed by Crystal Boyce to conclude the assembly.

By having students make signs and participate in a march made MLK day more meaningful and personal because as students we got to simulate an important part of the Civil Rights Movement.