Rollins College, Winter Park Florida: What may come to be known as “The Original Walk of Fame” was conceived in 1929 by Hamilton Holt, then president of Rollins College. By contrast the Hollywood Walk of Fame was originally proposed in 1954 by Hollywood Chamber of Commerce’s E.M. Stuart and the prototype of the star in 1956 to capture the best of the entertainment industry. Its inaugural star was not set util 1960. Every year the names of their stars glow slightly dimmer.

In the “Original Walk of Fame” the stars continue to glow, and some are glowing ever so much brighter.

Consider Aristotle, Oscar Wilde, Maya Angelou, Fred Rogers, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, George Washington, Thomas Edison, Martin Luther King Jr., William Shakespeare, Disraeli, William Penn, Edmund Burke, Thomas Reed, and even Confucius are among over 500 who are along this walk.

The challenge before the school is to enliven this Original Walk of Fame with students, faculty, staff or friends of the school who profoundly empathize with one of the people along the walk. On a symbolic day, the persona of that person comes alive through a soliloquy, speech, or writing, or even an original writing. If recorded and dated with biographical information of the performer, the best of them can find a place on the Rollins College website. The “Original Walk of Fame” can become a major attraction and learning event for the city and school.