By: C. Ron Allen; Delray Beach Tribune
DELRAY BEACH – Students at Village Academy on Wednesday held a somber wreath-laying ceremony to mark the 44th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Hundreds of students and teachers attended the brief program, where they sang, heard speeches and laid flowers at a makeshift tomb in front of the school.
“Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., would be proud to know that his famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech has become [a reality] today,” student Chason Lang, who emceed the somber program, told the audience. “His courage and desire to unite all races has had a big impact on the whole world. And that’s why we are gathered here today.”
The acclaimed civil rights leader is best remembered for his 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech, which united millions of people in the United States and around the world to work for racial justice.
The event culminated weeks of reenactments of the life of King for students in a journalism class. They produced a pictorial tribute, “A Movement That Changed the Country, Village Academy’s Journalism Class Remembers the Civil Rights Movement.”
Principal Guarn Sims said it was fitting that the event, the only of its kind in the school district, be held at Village. King inspired the entire nation with his stirring words, his great vision and his great dream, he said.
“One of the things I would like our young tigers to learn is how Dr. King was instrumental in a historical movement that changed how America operates,” he said. “The things that we enjoy today are because of the movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.”
Sims assured the audience that Wednesday’s observance will be an annual event.
The students’ pictorial tribute, which is on display at the school, was led by Palm Beach State College student Carol Lewis, who photographed them for a staged tableau.
Lewis, a print journalist who does media relations for Florida Atlantic University Libraries, said students were curious about the movement and asked many questions during the photo shoot.
“If at least one student studies history, writing or photography as a result of my time at the school, I will know that my reach extended beyond the camera,” Lewis said.
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