A Wall of Hope – Building Empathy Across Lower School

“I hope for everybody’s dreams to come true.” 

In the Lower School, students listened to, read, and studied the famous “I Have a Dream” speech. In Chapel, Director of Lower School Molly Hudson taught the students about Dr. King’s background and deep faith in God. She shared that his faith had a direct reflection on the passionate ways he spoke and the things that he said.

Sharing specific examples from the “I Have a Dream” speech, she focused on the hope that Dr. King shared throughout. Specifically:

Hope for a different future
Hope that people could change
Hope that people would listen
Hope for change
Hope in the good of people
Hope in dreams

At the end of Chapel, students were challenged with these questions: “why should we have hope? What hopes and dreams do you have for the future? What dreams do you have for the world around you?” 

Dr. King had immense hope for the World because of the hope he had in God. He knew that God had a greater plan. 

Jeremiah 29:1 shares, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” 

Students were encouraged to THINK BIG when imagining their dreams and thinking about their hopes. They then put those dreams to paper and what came together across the division was something beautiful – a hallway full of hope.

Lower School Performing Arts Instructor Amanda Lower took the students’ written down dreams and hopes and put them all together in a beautiful display on Lower Campus.

“I hope for everybody’s dreams to come true.” 

“I have hope for the future.” 

“I have a dream where equality exists. Love fills all our lives. Respect is loved. People take care of each other, and hunger is forgotten. People forgive each other. And mistakes are okay.” 

“I hope we find a cure to cancer.” 

“I hope to not just give humans a good life, but animals, too.”

Bringing these Mount Vernon hopes and dreams together shows us that the future is in good hands with our students working every day to design a better world, together, while being globally competitive and engaged citizen leaders. As a School, we can’t wait to see these hopes and dreams come true.