Whenever I walked around the campus, I often wondered why are we here? Why are we here in this corner of PA, doing what we do every day, going to classes, afternoon activities, study hall, and so on.

Pondering this question never gave me a satisfactory answer. For some, the answer may lie in one’s dream; for others, the answer may be a college or some life’s goals. The Hill School is by no means an easy place to stay in, especially during winter when the cold wind blows right on people’s faces. Yet despite the many academic, personal, or other challenges presented by the school, we still choose to stay and keep fighting. Why?

This month is the Black History Month, a month dedicated to the fight for social justice. In the history of this country or other countries, individuals whose names we’ve known since the day we got to school – and countless others whose names we do not and may never hear of in our life times – fought for justice. There are martyrs of history who dedicated their lives to  the cause of humanity and justice; deep inside each and every fighter, there perhaps is a flame. That flame remains that no matters what the outside pressure may be. The quest for justice was true in history, but it is still true now. Oppression and injustice cannot be driven away unless the people choose so.

This century presents its new form of oppression via income inequality, classism, implicit or explicit prejudices, and on and on. It seems that this world has an arsenal of injustice and keeps throwing at people, and injustice, always, encountered with justice. Without those who fought for emancipation, those who fought against segregation, those who fought for the right to vote, could we still proudly stand at this land, here in PA, learning English or Math, playing sports in the afternoon?

This month is a reminder and a chance, for us to reflect on what our purpose is as students here at the Hill School. We can spend this month celebrating the memory of the warriors who fought for justice; but perhaps we can do more. The responsibility of change is on this generation’s shoulders. We are not here just to get to somewhere after high school, nor are we here just to waste the four years we have. We are here because we must fight, for a higher ideal. We may be ordinary teenagers, but that is precisely what makes us extraordinary.

Those who gave up their lives in the Civil Rights Movement, those who gave up their lives in the fight for emancipation were just people, with an ideal of justice. If we are willing to face ourselves, we will find a way of change like those many before us.

Why are we here in the Hill School? I hope the answer will be, for each person, that we are people with flames in our heart, that would keep burning for a higher ideal, no matter what pressure given by outside.