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Volu me 74 Issu e 4
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A Student Publication of The Winsor School
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¡BANNER INOLVIDABLE! Finding a Voice Through Music at Winsor’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Assembly By Eileen Lee Banner Staff The David E. and Stacey L. Goel Theater erupted in a standing ovation on January 20, 2026, as the entire student body leaped to their feet, clapping and cheering. The Martin Luther King, Jr. assembly, “The Music of Movements: Making Your Voice Matter,” honored Dr. King and his enduring legacy. The multimedia performance blended live music, storytelling, and historical reflection. Martin Luther King, Jr. championed nonviolent resistance as a powerful force for justice, leading marches and peaceful demonstrations that challenged racial inequality across the United States. His vision of equality, justice, and collective responsibility continues to inspire generations and underpins the themes explored in the assembly. From the first chords, the audience was captivated. Musicians and vocalists took the stage, weaving together stirring renditions of civil rights songs, including “Redemption Song.” Narrators shared stories of how music has been a tool for activism, highlighting artists such as Sam Cooke and Bob Dylan, who used their voices to stand up for their communities. At one point, the performers invited the audience to consider a familiar symbol of national identity, asking, “Why did [‘The Star Spangled Banner’] become an anthem?” Looking back at the original lyrics, one performer emphasized its unmistakably collective language, noting that Francis Scott Key used the word “us” twice, “we” three times,
and “our” four times. “If you want your voice to matter,” she urged the audience, “learn how to speak on behalf of your community.” The audience clapped and sang along as the group performed familiar songs like “A Hard Rain’s
tion on Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement, and it showed me how passionate the performers were about Martin Luther King’s legacy.” Reflecting on the assembly’s connection to Dr. King’s message,
the role of listening, the more I wanted to write a complementary show about the opposite of listening…namely, speaking. Or said another way, finding your voice.[...]Having a voice that matters means speaking on behalf
take a look inside this issue! News Read Leela Uppaluri ’26’s description of the Admission Department’s newly rebranded Red Keys ambassador program Page 8
Center Lealo el opinión de Iris Shen ’26 de Bad Bunny en el Super Bowl
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Arts & Lifestyle Bela Patel ’27 explores how the Winsor class Intellectual Property and the Law confronted the ethics of human remains found on campus Page 11
Performers at the MLK Assembly A-Gonna Fall” and “If I Can Help English Teacher Ms. Krier praised Somebody.” The performance the performance. “I thought the created moments of reflection, group did an excellent job of not celebration, and unity, leaving just telling the story of King’s work the theater buzzing with energy. or showing archival footage, but “I really enjoyed how all the attempting to bring his message to performers used music to express life and make it vivid and current how they cared about civil rights for the audience.” She highlighted and to teach us about history and not only the group’s “amazing muthe importance of equality and jus- sical talents” but also the way they tice,” Chloe Lien ’29 shared. Lien “tied King’s work to the efforts of added that it was fascinating how others who have worked for social music brings an entire commu- justice, both inside and outside nity together, calling music “a re- of the Civil Rights Movement.” ally universal and powerful thing.” In an interview after the Clara Ko ’32 emphasized performance, Creative Directhe educational value of the per- tor Dave LeMieux explained formance, “I loved how the per- that the program grew out of his formers included narrations of years of touring productions fohistory and slideshows because cused on Dr. King’s call to action. it gave me background informa“The more I pondered
Julian Braxton of your community,” LeMieux shared. He hopes that the assembly left students “empowered to use their influence, voices, and platforms thoughtfully, lovingly, and boldly whenever they have a chance to speak up for others.” As the final notes faded, the audience paused in thoughtful silence before breaking into applause once more. “The Music of Movements” reminded everyone that Dr. King’s voice did not end with his life—it continues to resonate through those who stand for justice. From music to storytelling, the assembly celebrated the power of using one’s voice, leaving students inspired to carry King’s message of equality, courage, and community into their own lives. ☐
Van de Velde, my Brookline High Co-Organizer, to respond to a cold email on a Thursday afternoon. I had recently heard that one of my friends from middle school, Lina Kang, a senior at Belmont High School, had organized her own school walkout, and I was amazed at how quickly she pulled everybody together. That dedication and perseverance reminded me that, in a world where I felt increasingly hopeless in the face of almost never-ending headlines telling
ing in Minneapolis is so terrible,” and utterances of “did you hear?” pervading nearly every discussion of current events that I have had over the past couple of months and years. Winsor is a school that has continued to teach me that complacency is equivalent to complicity. Winsor is a school where History and English classes often unpack the implications of blissful ignorance. We even had Civil Rights Leader Francesca Montgomery come in to emphasize the important impact that students and the education of students have had throughout history. From the White Rose to the student activists of the Civil Rights Movement, at Winsor, we are implicitly and explicitly taught that our voices not only matter, but that the world can respond to our voices in defining ways. This walkout was a protest against ICE’s reprehensible terrorism, and by participating, students
Opinions Bella Holt ’27 critiques the rise of live-action remakes of animated movies
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Backpage Sports Check out Charlotte Wheler ’27’s Athlete of the Issue on Savanna Hurd ’27
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Scan the QR code and check out the online version of The Banner for additional articles, photos, games, and more!
One Cold Email Away: The Brookline x Winsor Anti-ICE Walkout By Elizabeth Tucker Contributing Writer
On Wednesday, February 4, at 1:50 p.m., approximately 60 Winsor students joined approximately 100 Brookline High School students to walk out, advocating for an end to the brutality imposed by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). I had my sister send the email. I couldn’t do it myself. I was so scared—what if nobody showed up? What if my efforts to organize a walkout relating to such a personal issue failed before it even began? What if this email was left unread in many peers’ inboxes, left to fade as another action proposed but never followed through on? The most complicated thing I had ever organized up to this point was my freshman-year birthday party. Now, I was organizing a dual-school walkout—a walkout that wouldn’t be possible without the willingness of Cécile
me how little I can do to change anything—I might have a chance. America is increasingly becoming more of an authoritarian state, helmed by a reality TV star on a McDonald’s-fueled power trip. Immigrants are staying home, with parents fearing arrest and children being abducted from school. Our world is ever more surrendering to the concept of “Ignorance is Strength” explored in 1984. Conversations occur in hushed whispers, oblique mentions of “what is happen-
Winsor x Brookline Anti-ICE Protest
Brookline News
are honoring their moral responsibility to protest a racist and oppressive administration. Many of us are fortunate to receive a quality education without the threat of arrest, and we are even more fortunate that the worst consequence we had to face for walking out was simply an unexcused absence from class. My peers helped ensure that history remembers our generation as one that stood up for what we believed in, not bystanders who decided that the enactment of martial law was something to scroll past. In the words of somebody who stood up (and died) for what they believed, Russian opposition leader and activist Alexei Navalny in his posthumous memoir Patriot declared, “The only moments in our lives that count for anything are those when we do the right thing— when we don’t have to look down at the table but can raise our heads and look each other in the eye. Nothing else matters.” ☐