The annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration event at KC opened in Jane Knight auditorium on Tuesday with a full video of Dr. King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech played on the main screen. Afterward, Dr. Tron Young, this year’s guest speaker, took the stage and spoke to those in attendance about the example that King set as a leader. Young reminded everyone that King’s fight was not easy.
“Positive change is possible when we join together in solidarity. Not when we wait, not when we complain, not when we point fingers,” Young said. “Dr. King did not live in a time of comfort. He lived when black children were being denied education, when people were being beaten for voting, when families were separated by law, when hate was normalized, and when silence was safer than speaking. And yet, he stood.”
Young has over two decades of experience in education including as a teacher, principal, and district-level leader. He was recognized in 2020 as Illinois Middle School Principal of the Year and Illinois NASSP National Distinguished Principal of the Year. Young told visitors that the key to leadership is taking informed action to direct the situations they are in, not just react to them. He used the analogy that a leader should be a “thermostat, not a thermometer,” and “set the temperature.”
“A thermostat sets. A thermostat controls. A thermostat impacts the environment around it. Most people go through their days reacting to the environment around them, reacting to the people, the moments… but great people, intentional people thermostat-setters, decide in advance who they want to be and what they want to create.”
Following the address in the auditorium, KC held a luncheon and an interactive workshop for students directed by Dr. Young.
