Hellooo family!
So as you all know, I go to college in DC, which can have some pretty sweet perks. Earlier this month I had a particularly awesome capital-only experience.
Every year in celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the city of Washington puts on a spectacular "Let Freedom Ring!" Concert at the Kennedy Center. The Kennedy Center is the place to perform in DC. It has multiple theaters, all of which are spectacular, including a bagillion-seat Concert Hall that serves as the home for the National Symphony.
Anyway, Georgetown plays a big role in organizing this event, and this year I volunteered to join the "Let Freedom Ring" Choir, a 100+ member gospel choir made up of Georgetown students and people from local Methodist churches that would sing at the concert. It was so much fun!!
Not only did we get to open the concert and perform some incredible Gospel songs, but we also got to perform for the President! Obama, his family, and a small army of Security Service agents were in the audience. The President even came on stage to give a speech on the dream of MLK--he was like 20 feet in front of me!
Also at this event, Georgetown and the MLK Legacy foundation presented an award to Dikembe Mutombo, one of the biggest, baddest basketball players in the history of the game. He was originally from the Congo and came to the US to become a doctor. He actually attended Georgetown, which is actually where he first started playing competitive basketball. Throughout his super successful basketball career, he used alot of his effort and money to support his home country in Africa, and recently he founded a new hospital in the Congo--the first new hospital to be opened there in many years. He gave a speech that was truly inspiring and made me really proud to go to Georgetown :)
Finally, the main act of the event was India Arie, a fabulous R&B artist who has won many awards. She was so cool and so friendly to us--she even asked our choir do backup vocals on many of her songs for the concert! It was so much fun to perform with such a professional and talented artist. Here is my favorite song of hers:
All in all it was a really really inspiring and unforgettable event. It made me realize how blessed I am to be where I am, and made me feel really proud to be an American!
God bless! Love you all :)
-Jaydee
your older sis is so proud! what a once in a lifetime opportunity, and mutombo's story is so inspiring. it was really cool to follow this concert live online last week :) you bumped elbow with obama twice this month already lol
ReplyDeleteGreat Job Juan! Proud of you, Pa and Ma
ReplyDeleteyou may not think about this now, but you're on your way in beeing up there with the great ones in the near future - because you have all that it takes to be one: intellect, talent, and a BIG HEART.
ReplyDeletewe are not only proud of what you have been doing, but of who you are!
love,
pa and ma
Here's the link to the MLK Let Freedom Ring event at the Kennedy Center on Jan. 18, 2010:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.kennedy-center.org/explorer/videos/?id=M4100&type=A
Josh
ReplyDeletekuya jay, that's AWESOME and legend wait for it... dary!
I'm really happy that you get to experience all those and am really proud of you, of what you have been doing and of what you have become. I know you will be very successful. Keep it up Jaydee!
ReplyDeleteNinang Emie