Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s talent as a facilitator is what made him such an effective leader and agent of change, says Randall Dunn ’83, who was the 2013 speaker at the assembly to honor the great civil rights leader.
“Not only did Dr. King have the ability to put the well-being of others before his own, he was a great facilitator,” says Mr. Dunn. “He was possessed by great conviction and he knew that his focused and courageous work, though difficult, would help others in the future. In the end, the best facilitators allow you to get to a better place.”
Mr. Dunn is the head of school at the Latin School of Chicago, which was founded in 1888 and, like Milton, provides students with a challenging and rewarding educational program in a community that embraces diversity of people, cultures and ideas. He told students how specific people were essential in guiding him on the path to be an active leader in education.
“We all have facilitators in our lives who seem to already know what certain opportunities are going to mean to you,” says Mr. Dunn.
Watch Mr. Dunn’s talk in the ACC.
Mr. Dunn was born in Kingston, Jamaica. His mother immigrated to Dorchester, Massachusetts, and worked as a nanny until all of her five children could join her. He says she was his first facilitator. His second, a middle school teacher, pressed him to apply to Milton, where Mr. Dunn flourished. Here he participated in community service, was a three-season athlete, and was involved in SGA. As a senior, he was a head monitor and set several track and field records, a few of which still stand.
“My years at Milton were filled with people who took care of me,” says Mr. Dunn. “We have the ability to be this to other people. Our country and our world need us to be champions for others, to look beyond ourselves and work on making others’ lives the best they can be.”
Mr. Dunn earned a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and a master’s degree in education from Harvard University. He and his wife, Liz ’83, live with their two children in Chicago.
