Interfaith Tribute Salutes Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s Legacy
Asbury Park School Superintendent issues charge to make a difference
Asbury Park School Superintendent Lamont Repollet in his keynote address asked those who attended Wednesday’s annual Interfaith Tribute to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. legacy at Congregation Torat El in Ocean Township to help the school district meet its goal to inspire students to realize theirs.
Dr. Lamont Repollet, Asbury Park School Superintendent
“Education certainly involves core curriculum, but there is always the additional challenge of getting students to realize the connection between their courses, the assignments they are required to complete and what they may want to do with their lives,” Repollet said in a news release issued by the school district.
The theme of the 11th annual celebration was “Education, Equality and Community Partnership,” according to a news release from the Jersey Shore Jewish Center. The emphasis was to provide a collaboration between the Asbury Park School District and stakeholders in the surrounding communities.
Event co-chair Jeffrey A. Donner
The tribute began as a way to recognize not only King as a historical figure but as a figure who has direct relevance to what being in America is about, event co-chair Jeffrey Donner said.
“Dr. King’s teachings really are still a blue print on how to conduct a lot of things in the country,” Donner said. “We have very important things that hold us together as Americans.”
Participants included Congregation Torat El’s Rabbi Aaron Schonbrun, Repollet, former Red Bank School Superintendent Dr. Donald Warner, Brookdale Community College’s Dean of Social Sciences Dr. Frank Rother, the Second Baptist Church Choir of Long Branch, and the Living Word Christian Fellowship Choir of Neptune.
Repollet’s call to action asks private sector individuals to help provide students with career guidance and opportunities.
Asbury Park BOE members Felecia Simmons, Carole Jones and Board President Nicole Harris and her father, Daniel Harris, with Dr. Lamont Repollet during the Interfaith Tribute” reception.
Last year the school district launched its Career and College Readiness program aimed at providing students with internship opportunities to help them gauge potential career paths.
Program supervisor Brian Stokes has said a success file is created for each student entering the eighth grade.
“We talk to them about what they want to do when they become an adult,” he said. “If they don’t have an idea of what they would like to do then the goal is to find out what they like. We do explorations into the things that they currently like in order to help them have the conversation about their future. It’s not that we don’t want them to still be kids and have an enjoyable high school experience but we also want them to, at the same time, think about their future.”
Spurred by inefficiencies in traditional educational and the many potential distractions that often cause students to lose their way, Repollet sees an urgency in uniting knowledgeable adults to share their wisdom with students, according to the news release.
“It all starts with education and communication,” he said.
Donner said, they intend to keep on with Repollet’s call to action
“This is a program we can hone to really combat some of the things we’ve been experiencing in this area and the nation, with violence and the wasted lives of people who are the victims and the people who are the perpetrators,” he said. “We as concerned citizens have to step in to break that cycle to help students realize there is a place for them in this, our society.”
[Photos courtesy of the Asbury Park School District]
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