Students learn King's message

Had he lived, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., would have been 79 years old on January 15. This year Sisters Middle School students honored his birthday, his life and his legacy at a special assembly organized by the school's leadership class and went home with a better understanding of why each year they are excused from school the third Monday of January to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Bringing history alive was part of the assembly's goal, according to principal Kathy Miner, who foresees this first-time celebration as becoming an annual event. "It's important to explain the history and ask how it applies today," she said," so these students can be the next generation to carry King's ideas ahead, live them and apply them.

According to Miner, King's legacy also fits in perfectly with the school's motto: "Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect."

In producing the assembly students took thoughts, beliefs and images of King's day and applied them to themselves today. Through this process they felt what King and his followers felt.

"The content of the reading they shared was great. They're not just reading it. They're feeling it and applying it, and that's wonderful," said Miner.

Students watched a slide show documenting King's life. They viewed actual footage and heard King's voice as he presented his "I Have a Dream" speech at the base of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963.

They enjoyed interludes of humor and levity during the silly skit leadership students presented about stereotyping. According to student body president eighth grader Zoe McAllister, although it is important to remind students not to stereotype, the school does not have much of a problem with it.

"Everybody makes a new person feel welcome and accepted," she said.

A highlight of the assembly was the performance of eighth grader Adam Cash, who strummed his guitar and belted out the words of his latest original song, "This Country Don't Love Me." Cash told The Nugget he wanted to write a song for the assembly about stereotyping or racism.

"I just came up with that title. I like the title and went from there really. That's kind of what happens when you write songs," he said.