by Maggie Fitzgerald ’14

On Monday morning at the MLK assembly, the Williston Northampton School was very lucky to hear from Smith College’s Assistant Professor of Afro-American studies, Professor Daphne Lamothe. Her lecture on overcoming identity integration and seeing “mountains beyond mountains” was inspirational yet educational.

Sophomore Julia Krupp related to Dr. Lamothe’s idea of the American dream when she described how “it was really awesome to hear such an intellectual woman speak about her journey when she was discovering her identity.”

Likewise, sophomore Quinn Griffin humorously connected to the speech by saying, “it inspired me to search for my true identity. I will start by climbing Mount Tom.”

Professor Lamothe described her Haitian background through a pop-culture song “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)” by Arcade Fire. She recalled climbing over mountains to reach her mother’s village as a child. Junior Caleb DeMello “enjoyed her integration of music into the presentation.” He said it was “refreshing” to have a speaker that incorporated music. “It really connected to us as teenagers,” he added.

As the sea of students migrated back to the academic circle for classes, everyone was able to relate to Dr. Lamothe and her journey of connecting to identity as well as searching to find the right pair of “shoes.”