A Great Assembly For A Great Hero

By Stephanie Chin

From issue 4 summer 2006

Dr. Martin Luther King is a great hero who helped lead the Civil Rights Movement. He helped black people and white people realize that going to the same school, sitting in the same place, or even being good friends is okay. That is why we honor Dr. King’s birthday as a national holiday. “I think Martin Luther King represents the ideals that all of us should live by,” said Mr. McGhie, dean of the Journalism Academy. At I.S. 49 we do more than just stay home from school on the holiday. Thanks to teachers like Ms. Mercil and Mr. Schwartz we also have a very special assembly. The school orchestra, under the direction of Mr. Schwartz, was excellent at the assembly. They played many songs. During this performance, I was especially amazed at how good Kyle Francis, a sixth grade student, sang his solo “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” At this assembly, two very important people spoke. One of those people was Reverend Tony Banks. Mr. Banks comes to our school every year to speak about Martin Luther King. The other person was Mr. Bonamo, one of our deans. Mr. Bonamo has been serving in our school for many years and we are honored to have him working at I.S. 49. After Mr. Banks and Mr. Bonamo talked, we had another event: the candle-lighting ceremony. During the ceremony, students spoke about one time in their life that they really helped someone. After each student spoke, each candle was lit. These candles stood for values such as Honesty, Caring, Patience, Humility, Cooperation, and Courage. “The candle lighting ceremony spoke of Dr. King’s six building blocks of learning,” said Ms. Mercil. After the candle lighting, students from the Journalism Academy read speeches. The speeches were about the person who inspires them most. The person who inspired them came to the assembly and accepted awards. Cyndi Chin from the Journalism Academy was one student who read her speech about her brother, Justin Chin, and how she admired him. Justin is a sophomore at Curtis High School and a graduate of Dreyfus. “I felt nervous reading my speech at first but then as I got to the end, I felt confident,” said Cyndi. Mr. McGhie and Ms. Mercil were just a few of those who attended who really enjoyed the speeches. “The speeches that the children read were heart-felt, genuine and touching,” said Ms. Mercil. “I thought the children did a wonderful job presenting their feelings about the person who influenced them in their life,” said Mr. McGhie. This assembly was the best we had so far this year. The assembly helped students recognize an important figure in history.