2026 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Remembrance

Keynote Speaker:

Alhassan Susso

Sunday, January 18, 2026, 3:00pm
Contois Auditorium, City Hall
149 Church St, Burlington, VT

Free tickets are available at City Market and Fletcher Free Library

Attendees are asked to bring a non-perishable food item in support of the Jamaica Hurricane Relief Effort.

About Our Speaker

Alhassan Susso is a world-renowned educator, author and speaker who has devoted his
career to transforming the lives of young people facing difficulties.

An expert in social and emotional learning, he is passionate about empowering immigrant students and enhancing teacher capabilities.

Alhassan is the author of The Light of Darkness: The Story of the Griots’ Son, which traces his journey from The Gambia to America as a nearly blind teenager and his trials and triumphs becoming American while maintaining his African roots.

Alhassan is the founder and director of a program at the International Community High School in the Bronx that helped raise his school’s graduation rate from 31% to 85% in five years. Through this program, he has worked with and transformed the lives of over 1,000 youths.

Alhassan was named the 2019 New York State Teacher of the Year, the 2019 New York State History Teacher of the Year, and the 2020 NEA National Educator of the Year. In 2017, he was included among the Varkey Foundation’s “Top 50 Outstanding Educators in the World.”

He has won numerous awards, including the 2019 Cultural Innovator Award from Long Island University, the 2021 Council for Economic Education Visionary Award, and the Social-Emotional Learning Innovation Award for Teachers from the Rockefeller Foundation’s “Education First” program, which he has received two times.

His numerous articles include “Peeling Away Cultural Cataracts to Reveal Humanity’s Beauty,” “What Our Students Need to Learn,” and most recently, “The Reinvention Schools Really Need.”

Alhassan graduated with honors in political science and history from UVM and earned his M.A. in teaching from Bard College. He currently teaches government, economics and personal development and leads the 12th-grade instructional team at the International Community High School, located in the South Bronx in New York City.

Agenda

Black National Anthem
Sung by KeruBo, with Pianist Thomas Cleary

I Have A Dream
Lanae Buford, Zaylee Buford, Davyannah Buford

Welcome & MLK Recognitions
Mr. Patrick Brown, Executive Director, GBMRC

WINOOSKI SCHOOL DISTRICT
Presented by Dr. Marlene Tromp, President, University of Vermont
MERCY CONNECTIONS
Presented by Ms. Thato Ratsebe, Associate Director, AALV
MR. ALI DIENG
Presented by Mr. John Rodgers, Lt. Governor of Vermont

Introduction of Keynote Speaker
Dr. Kelli Perkins, Director, Burlington Office of Racial Equity, Inclusion & Belonging

Keynote
Mr. Alhassan Susso
Educator, Author, Speaker, UVM Graduate

Musical Selection
Sung by KeruBo, with Pianist Thomas Cleary

Closing Remarks
Mr. Vijay Singh, CEO, Vermont Public

Musical Selection
Sung by KeruBo, with Pianist Thomas Cleary

We Shall Overcome
We shall overcome
The Lord will see us through
We’ll walk hand in hand
We shall live in peace
The truth shall make us free