Celebrating MLK

The frigid conditions on Wednesday did not deter our students, faculty, staff and parents from celebrating the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. Around 400 members of our community planned on walking to Graham Chapel on the campus of Washington University for an all-school assembly, but with the single-digit wind chill factor, the march was relocated to the Rand Center. Dr. King spoke at Graham Chapel 61 years ago. Three years later, in 1960, King spoke at United Hebrew Temple, now the Missouri History Museum Library and Research Center on Skinker Boulevard. With Forsyth School in the middle of these two locations, it’s a powerful image for our students to imagine walking in Dr. King’s footsteps in our very own neighborhood.

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 The theme of this year’s peace march was “What peace looks like at Forsyth.” Teachers used their Morning Meetings throughout the week to examine the words we live by every day through Forsyth’s Honor Code—honesty, kindness, respect, responsibility, fairness and good sportsmanship. Bearing signs celebrating the values in our Honor Code, students in Junior-K through Grade 6 paraded into the gym. After a few words about peace from Mr. Shelton, Mr. Hooper and Dr. Burns, the kids took care of the rest of our activities during the assembly. Junior-Kindergartners started by singing “There Was A Man” for the entire school. Fifth graders shared their interpretation of Dr. King’s dream by reading what Dr. King believed and what they believed. One student said “That if all people are not free, no one is free.”

For the finale, Mr. Thomas led the entire School in Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge over Troubled Water,” a song students had rehearsed in their music classes.

Honesty, Kindness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness and Good Sportsmanship…we hope that Dr. King would be proud.