On Thursday, August 23rd, 2012, Fisk University held its first chapel service. The sophistication of the institution was represented well with a procession to elegant melodic expressions of Impromptu by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor by way of the organ. Well-dressed men and women, who looked the part of intellectuals, marched in to the tune of Dr. Anthony Williams’s pomp playing. The students were the epitome of Fisk’s tagline, “Cultivating Scholars and Leaders One by One.”
President of SGA, Philippe E. C. Andal’ addressed students with an illustrious speech. He painted a picture of hope. Statisticians and development advisors projected Fisk to be shut down this fall; however, Fisk welcomed its largest class in 5 years with two hundred and sixty seven freshman students. Fisk is currently ranked number 1 among all HBCU’s on Forbes. When listeners heard of his thematic thrust of hope, one could only think about what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”
President Hazel R. O’Leary addressed all the students for the last time as she plans to retire and a new President will be selected in September. She gave advice to the students and stated, “Best you choose your friends wisely.”
The program ended, with their Alma Mater, of course, directed by Dr. Matthew Kennedy, Professor Emeritus of Music. Uplifted voices gracefully sang, “The warm and genial setting sun lights up the hills with mellow hue, where Fisk our Alma Mater stands majestic, dear, old Gold and Blue. Then hurrah and hurrah! For the gold and blue, her sons are steadfast, her daughters true, where e’er we be, we shall still love thee Fisk! Our Alma Mater.”
