Dear Princeton Academy Community,
Many of us take 15-20 minutes to do a variety of different things each day: exercise, read, eat, check email... On January 16, 2017, I hope you will take 17 minutes to watch Dr. King's I Have A Dream speech with your children and engage them in conversation about the confluence of history and today, inspiring them to envision their own dreams to bring peace and love to our world. Every year since I first became a teacher, I have taken time to share Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have A Dream speech with my students in class. Similarly, my family and I gather around the computer each MLK Day to watch and listen to Dr. King share his vision of peace and harmony with the world from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. My students know it is coming, as do my children, and I marvel at how their understanding of Dr. King's rhetoric changes with each annual listening. No matter how many times I experience Dr. King speak from his heart, I am always moved profoundly, and each time in a slightly different way. The timeless meaning of Dr. King's words has a way of fitting context, rising and falling with the tides of time. "We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now." Full of faith and full of hope, in 2017 Dr. King's vision is more prescient than ever.
Mission matters and ours is clear. Princeton Academy is committed to creativity, compassion, courage and justice... Faith in God, respect for intellect, service, building community and responsibility. Today's world demands a commitment to our Sacred Heart Goals. Guided by our mission, our young men grow to become leaders of a just society. As members of the Princeton Academy community, we are part of something much larger than ourselves. In this way, we seek to fulfill Dr. King's dream as we learn to live by the Sacred Heart Goals. We bring out the best in boys and they, in turn, bring out the best in others.
We want our young men to dream big. We want to inspire them to have vision and purpose. Today's students are part of a generation that has cause. How we prepare our young men to contribute to our world as caring citizens is paramount. There is a reason why we celebrate a Federal Holiday in honor of Dr. King, a man who devoted his life to peace and justice. At Princeton Academy, we are proud to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by listening, leading and living with open hearts.
With blessings for peace,
Rik
