“Give a person that doesn’t look like you a hug, and tell them you love them”. Last Wednesday, speaker Chris Singleton stood up on the stage of Cape Henry’s Dreyfus, his first request of us being that everyone gives each other a hug.

“Someone in this room needed that hug,” he said. Singleton graced Cape Henry’s campus on a day meant to remind Americans that we are a unified community – 9/11, and, through his wide-reaching message, reminded Cape Henry that we are a strong community built to lift each other up. Singleton’s words left an impact long after he stepped off-campus, prompting every student and faculty member to be someone’s shoulder to lean on, be someone that makes lasting change, and be someone with integrity. 

Three members of the CHC community – Carter Atherton, Sophie Lane, Caroline Dixon, all three from the class of 2020 – that were touched by Singleton’s message spoke out about how they felt about his speaking and attitude about the topics he addressed. Caroline Dixon tells that the message of Singleton that moved her the most was that “what is most important is how you react you can’t change what people say or do.” 10% of your life is what you are given and can’t change, and 90% is how you react. Carter Atherton was impacted by the segment of forgiveness and how forgiveness allows you to “avoid hate”. Caroline followed up with Carter’s favorite aspect of Singleton’s presentation by saying she admired his courageousness in forgiving the man who murdered his mother. “Kindness and inclusivity was a big part of what Singleton was preaching,” said Sophie Lane, with Caroline following up with how he knew he could make a difference in people’s lives by just standing up on the stage and speaking with us can get us to make a difference in other’s lives. Carter, with a similar experience of losing a parent at a young age, said it was cool that he taught him resilience with the loss of a parent.

All students that heard him speaking believed he was extremely beneficial for the community and his message was one of utmost importance for everyone at CHC. Carter thinks we should bring another speaker that preaches resilience, and Caroline believes we should bring more speakers in that can identify with the younger population of students more, as we’ll listen to them closer and we feel closer to them than older speakers.