|
January 18, 2008
ANDOVER — For the 17th straight year, Phillips Academy will pre-empt all regular classes on Monday, January 21, to honor the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Multiple activities have been created around this year’s theme, “Bridging our Differences in the Modern World.” An extensive offering of guest, student, and faculty speakers will join with presentations of Spike Lee’s film about Hurricane Katrina, When the Levees Broke, and performances by Mykee Fowlin, who will present two one-man shows—one that addresses issues of diversity and another that give s voice to those often unheard, such as the elderly and the disabled.
Linda Carter Griffith, dean of the Office of Community and Multicultural Development (CAMD) said, “In commemorating the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. in the ways that we do, we acknowledge that the road to justice is never fully paved and that each and every one of us needs the tools to continue the work that Dr. King began.” She said the day’s events are designed to enhance Andover’s efforts to prepare students for a global existence, where living and learning together in an increasingly diverse world presents so many challenges.
The day begins at an all-school gathering in Cochran Chapel with the rousing Phillips Academy Gospel Choir and a keynote address by Michael Patrick MacDonald, a Southie native who grew up in the cauldron of Boston’s school integration battle in the 1970s and author of two books—All Souls and Easter Rising: An Irish American Coming Up From Under.
Faculty and students will attend separate workshops offered by Vivian Louie ’84, assistant professor in the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Louie is a sociologist “who studies education and identities in the diverse migratory flows occurring with globalization,” said Griffith. Louie will address the experience of our Asian and Asian American students, with specific focus on the “model minority” myth and the stress of academic pressure.
Faculty will offer workshops throughout the day that cover a variety of issues on subjects such as social justice, meanings in Hip Hop, Dr. King’s legacy, the suffering of the Sudanese people, finding God on YouTube, and gender and politics. Three students, who were selected last spring to be the first annual CAMD scholars, will present their research papers during the day. The students and there topics are: Britney Achin ’08, “I AM: A Study of Self-Identification among Bi-Racial Teenagers;” Simone Hill ’08, “Adversity of Diversity: Understanding the Southern Experience;” and Thomas Smyth ’08, “Resegregation: Undoing Brown vs. the Board of Education.”
The Community Service Office has arranged transportation to Lawrence for students and faculty who would like to volunteer to serve dinner at the Cor Unum Meal Kitchen; volunteers should gather on the steps of Cochran Chapel at 3:30 p.m. Faculty children are invited to enjoy an MLK Jr. Day Kids Fair, hosted from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Borden Gymnasium by the Community Service Office.
|
