The plan for the Hope Preparatory School students to memorize Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s, ‘I Have a Dream’ speech began around Martin Luther King Day last year. The school wanted their students to learn about the worlds and life of Dr. King. The students, faculty and staff studied, memorized, and recited the speech for months while the teachers read biographies of Dr. King in the classroom. 

“We’ve learned that we must courageously take action in the face of injustice and truly see and love our neighbors, as Christ also calls us to do,” said Head of Hope Preparatory School, Diane Spear. 

Hope Preparatory prides itself on taking action and loving their neighbors. They seek to inspire their students through the conversation of history and to be academically prepared with personal courage to become world changers and messengers of God’s love and hope. 

“We believe the powerful and hopeful words of Dr. King’s speech will bear fruit in our students’ lives for years to come and are thankful to be able to share this with others through the video,” said Spear. 

The school believes classical Christian education develops students’ rhetorical skills so that they will be excellent communicators, able to express the right words and skills for the right moment to love others, to heal wounds, and to effect change for good. 

“This is why we study, memorize, and recite great speeches, poetry, literature, and scripture. Once our students commit great words to memory, they have them as an internal resource again and again as they face the trials and opportunities that life will bring their way,” said Spear. 

The video features the children going through Dr. King’s speech one line per child at a time. 

“We believe the powerful and hopeful words of Dr. King’s speech will bear fruit in our students’ lives for years to come and are thankful to be able to share this with others through the video,” said Spear.