Area students to celebrate MLK Day at Northwest

Northwest will host a Day of Civic Engagement on Monday, Jan. 21, the observed birthday of civil rights giant Martin Luther King Jr.

The event is being sponsored by the University’s Office Minority Affairs and Office of Volunteerism and Service Learning.

Middle school and high school students from Maryville, the Missouri Academy of Science, Mathematics and Computing and the Clarinda (Iowa) Academy are expected to attend the afternoon event. They will be joined by young people from a number of St. Joseph schools and organizations, including the Bartlett Center, Catholic Charities, Bode Middle School and the Mid-City Excellence Center.

In the past, Northwest students have observed Martin Luther King Jr. Day by performing various types of community service throughout the Maryville area. This year, however, University students and staff will reach out to bring King’s message of hope and equality to a younger generation.

“We love serving the community and will continue to do that,” said Minority Affairs Director Ame Lambert. “But for MLK day this year, we wanted to ensure that our service allowed us to really reflect on the legacy of Dr. King, his work and the civil rights movement in general.”

Lambert said she and Volunteerism/Service Learning Coordinator Amy Nally decided a good way to do that would be to “empower and educate” students from area secondary schools.

During the Day of Civic Engagement, Northwest students will assist University staff in offering a variety of events between noon and 3:45 p.m. on the third floor of the J.W. Jones Student Union. The afternoon will begin with a spaghetti lunch in the Union Boardroom.

Other activities will include an “Archie Bunker’s Neighborhood” simulation based on the old television show starring Carroll O’Connor, a screening of and discussion about the documentary “Mighty Times -- The Children’s March” and live entertainment and games.

“This will be a great way for students to interact and learn from each other,” Lambert said. “We want to create an opportunity for young people to talk about Martin Luther King’s work beyond the March on Washington and the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.”

King, whose observed birthday is a national holiday, was one of the main leaders of the American civil rights movement. A Baptist minister by training, he is remembered for leading the Montgomery Bus Boycott and helping found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

These efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech, which dramatically raised public consciousness about civil rights and established King as a world figure. He was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tenn.

For more information, please contact:

Anthony Brown,
News Bureau Manager
E-Mail: abrown@nwmissouri.edu
Phone: 660.562.1704
Fax: 660.562.1900

Northwest Missouri State University
219 Administration Building,
800 University Drive
Maryville, MO 64468

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