Calvin College will host and participate
in a variety of events to mark the celebrations of the life and legacy
of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The activities actually will begin prior to the January 17 holiday as
Calvin hosts its annual MLK Young Leaders Weekend from January 14-16.
This is an annual three-day event featuring workshops, seminars, movies,
worship, time for reflection and more for local high school students who
have been nominated by their churches and schools for their leadership
activities and potential.
The Weekend will be sponsored by Calvin's Office of Pre-College Programs
and Office of Multicultural Student Development as well as the school's
new African and African Diaspora Studies minor.
"This year," says Randal Jelks, director of the African Studies
minor, "there will be two workshops blocks where students will learn
about the history of the Civil Rights Movement as well as how they today
can be catalysts for social change while remaining rooted in a firmament
of faith."
The students, who will be joined by Calvin College students for the entire
weekend, also will do a service learning project and, Jelks, says, the
intent is to make a strong connection between service and thinking about
the structural problems of a community. The service learning is then followed
by a time for reflection on what the various groups have learned. After
free time, the community then watches a film together and is led in a
"talk back" session.
On Sunday the young leaders will attend a community church. Following
the church service, parents of the high school students will join the
leaders for a closing banquet to be held at Grand Rapids Reach, Inc. Together,
parents, youth and college students will think about their calling as
Christian leaders. The banquet will also include a financial aid presentation
entitled "Preparing to Lead through Higher Education: Dispelling
the Myths About College Costs."
The Calvin committee for the event includes: Rhae-Ann Booker, director
of pre-college programs; Jacqueline Rhodes, assistant dean of multicultural
student development; Melvin Thomas, Pathways to Possibilities coordinator;
and Jelks.
The sponsors for the weekend are the Points of Light Foundation, Meijer
Inc. and the Richard D. Van Lunen Foundation.
Then a trio of on-campus events will help Calvin students, faculty and
staff observe the January 17 holiday.
At 10 am on January 17 the college will host a special chapel service
dedicated to the memory of King and his role in the Civil Rights movement
of the 1960s. At 12:30 pm that day Calvin dean Barbara Omolade will speak
as part of Calvin's annual January Series. Her talk will feature her own
story of faith, family and student activism - a story that includes active
participation in the Civil Rights movement as well as a personal journey
that saw her raise a family, earn two graduate degrees, teach college
and become a convert to Christianity.
Finally at 3 pm on January 17 Calvin will host a Martin Luther King Jr.
March - an event that will see marchers gather at the Calvin Fieldhouse
and then march to the Calvin Chapel where they will witness an MLK re-enactment:
Letters From A Birmingham Jail as brought to life by actor Brian Jones.
Calvin also will have a presence at the city-wide MLK Celebration slated
for 6:30 pm at Grand Rapids Community College. Sankofa, a Calvin student
drum group, will participate in the two-hour program, (and the college
is offering free coach transportation to and from the downtown event for
all those students, staff and faculty who wish to attend).
Also several Calvin College interim courses (interim is a three-week
term in January during which students take just one class) explore aspects
of the Civil Rights movement, including The Civil Rights Movement in the
U.S. from 1954-1965 (taught by Omolade). |
