Dear Mother Morehouse,

Two years ago, I started my first day at Morehouse College. It was a school I had never heard of until my mom visited it while she was in Atlanta, and she came back and told me, “You’re going to Morehouse.” From the moment I visited the school for myself, I immediately called it home.

That feeling has stayed with me throughout my entire career at Morehouse. This Founder’s Day I received that same feeling.

As President David A. Thomas was inaugurated as the 12th President of Morehouse College, I was overcome with emotion for many reasons.

Celebrating Founder’s Day isn’t a strange thing at Morehouse, and we always take the time to celebrate that we’ve made it this long. However this time was different because we were now entering a new age in our 152 years of existence. While Thomas didn’t attend Morehouse, I am more excited than ever to see where he’ll lead the institution throughout the rest of his time as the president of the school because his love for the school is so genuine that it can’t be viewed as anything else.

Being an outsider that has now been granted full access on the inside is something that I view will be the most beneficial to Morehouse as we reign in 152 years of existence. There has always been a promise of brighter future for the school, but with Thomas, the future is the brightest it has ever been. Being a part of this transitional period for Mother Morehouse is exciting because the inauguration of Thomas showed me what I already knew: Morehouse is in the right hands to keep the doors open and produce students that will leave this place as change makers in society.

While Thomas played a crucial part in the emotions that festered from within, there was another side of the coin that made just as much of an impact.

Due to the fact that I was with the glee club on stage, I didn’t have the same view as everyone else that attended, but it wasn’t just about what I saw. It was also about what I heard.

As I saw Thomas receive his medallion, I heard the voices in a chapel full of alum, students, faculty and staff, and visitors fill the building. It was roaring echo of support and hope that we’re taking a step in the right direction.

In that moment, I realized that the brotherhood at Morehouse is alive, well, and present which is just the type of unity that we need as we enter this new age.

For 152, Morehouse College has been fulfilling its purpose to develop men with disciplined minds who will lead lives of leadership and service. Being a part of this brotherhood has a been feeling that I wouldn’t trade for all the money in the world. That’s 152 years of at least one person saying the same.

Morehouse, the world needs you. Black men need you. I need you.

The Morehouse experience is one that can be explained in a various amount of ways, but there aren’t any words to fully express how much it can impact the lives of those who walk these grounds. It’s transformative.

For all the examples listed above and those that were left unsaid, thank you Mother Morehouse for being Morehouse. We have some ways to go, but today we celebrate you for all the good you are, have done, and have yet to do.

Sincerely,

Jair D. Hilburn, Editor-In-Chief