Choate Celebrates Diversity through Song and Laughter on MLK Day
By Suril Kantaria ‘09
News Reporter
Monday, January 15th, Choate students attended a Special Program in celebration of Martin Luther King Day. Students watched a video produced by students in CALSA, the Choate Afro-Latino Student Association, followed by an exciting presentation titled “Make a Difference! Lessons from Africa to You”, given by performer, writer, historian and vocalist Mr. Ronald Daise.
This annual program was presented to the Choate community by the Choate Campus Ministry and CALSA. Reverend Marc Trister, head of Campus Ministry, organized the program, asking CALSA to take part in it as well.
Reverend Trister explained, “[CALSA] was delighted to be involved.”
CALSA President Anthony White ’07 was the MC of the evening, first introducing the video presentation, which was filmed and choreographed by Steve Kwizera ’07, Tyren Bynum ’07, Uchenna Nwogu ’08, Daryl Wells ’07, and Andrew Silberstein ’07. The video highlighted numerous student and faculty opinions on the importance of Dr. Martin Luther King to America’s history.
Kwizera explained the reason behind filming the video in the Choate community, saying, “We decided to film the responses of Choate students and faculty members because MLK day has been a special day within the Choate community for many years, and we felt that it was essential to continue this tradition.”
The majority of the special program was a fun, interactive presentation by an accomplished performer, Mr. Ronald Daise. Mr. Daise is best known for his mid-1990s childrens’ television series “Gullah, Gullah Island,” which aired on Nickelodeon. In 1997, Mr. Daise’s television series was nominated for a daytime Emmy award for preschool productions. “Gullah, Gullah Island” has also been nominated for two NAACP Image Awards, and has won two Parent’s Choice Awards. This past summer, Mr. Ronald Daise traveled to Ghana, Africa, and has been sharing his experiences there with audiences across America ever since.
When asked how Mr. Ronald Daise was invited to present at Choate Rosemary Hall, Trister replied, “Ron was recommended to me by Julia Mellon ’07, whose mother has produced some artistic works for the place where Ron works in South Carolina…I communicated with [Ron] and I thought it would be a very exciting opportunity for us because we do nothing in the school with other cultures. The angle of his work in Africa and lessons we could learn would be a different way to go about what we were presenting that day.”
Reverend Trister continued, “[Ron] had great reviews, and I thought it would be a great way to keep student’s attention on a Monday morning.”
Mr. Daise enthusiastically shared the lessons he learned while visiting Ghana, by displaying images and poems as well as singing traditional songs in Gullah, the language and culture of African slaves and their descendents who now live on islands off the coast of South Carolina. Mr. Daise also engaged the audience by asking important self-reflection questions as part of his presentation.
Trister stated, “It’s important for us to answer the questions for ourselves that Ron presented in his talk, and those are questions that Martin Luther King challenges us to answer as well when we read his writings.”
Mr. Daise concluded the special program by singing the “Gullah, Gullah Island” theme song, after a student requested it. Once again, Mr. Daise energetically engaged the audience by asking for them to help sing along at times.
Many Choate students enjoyed and appreciated the special program. Abena Hagan-Brown ’08 stated, “I really liked the special program because the values that MLK tried to use in his teachings were reflected by the presentation.”
Also in appreciation of the program, Ethan McDonnell ’09 reflected, “It was a good program because on MLK Day we usually hear the history of Martin Luther King and what he did. I think it was better to go back to the roots of Martin Luther King, go back to Africa itself, which is important because it teaches us their traditions and background… it’s good that we learned about them.”
To some students, Mr. Daise and his ending theme song brought back fond memories. Carolyn Siegel ’07 commented, “I loved the special program because it brought me back to the good old days, when I was young and watched ‘Gullah, Gullah Island’… at the same time it was very educational and enjoyable.”
Trister saw a great connection between the program and Dr. Martin Luther King, concluding that “If Martin Luther King were alive, he would have appreciated what we did on his birthday.”
Peter Gault ’07 said, “The speaker presented a very interesting personal cultural heritage and showed us how we should respect all people’s backgrounds, which was part of Martin Luther King’s dream of toleration of all things.”
