Several hundred members of the Castleton College community joined Castleton President Dave Wolk and Middlebury’s Dr. Mike Kiernan as they led the college into a new semester with a majestic tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Thursday, January 23.
President Wolk’s opening address included a settling of debts in which he – an ardent fan of the Boston Red Sox – donned a New York Yankees jersey; as he said he would if Castleton should surpass 100 donors in the recent Gift of Life Marathon. Wolk went on to announce Tim MacKintosh as the Commuter Student of the Semester and Kate Richards as the Employee of the Semester.
Following the address Kiernan introduced the event as one that usually avoids the obvious reading of Dr. King’s famous speech, opting instead for a deeper look into King’s teachings and speeches. In this, the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, Kiernan said they would “Go right after it.” And, they did.
Renditions of “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” and “There is No Failure in God” by the Collegiate Chorale were wrapped beautifully around contextual presentations of “Music as a Language” and “Clothing as a Language” which illustrated the mood and feelings of the 1958-1968 decade, using King’s speech of 1963 as the midpoint, and Kiernan himself spoke on the rhetoric of the “I Have a Dream” speech.
The highlight of the event was the reading of the famous speech by ten Castleton students, dramatically interwoven with one another, leaving the crowd in awe.
The evening concluded with standing-room-only crowd joining the chorale with a stirring rendition of We Shall Overcome.