MLK Day Reflections

MLK Day: Making it a Day On and Not a Day Off
Over 200 attendees came to various campus events on MLK Day organized through our office and campus partnerships. 65 faculty, staff, and students joined together to discuss Civil Rights past and present at an Issue Breakfast. 65 faculty, staff, students, and children worked to pack over 9,000 meals for Haiti and created blankets for our local shelters. 40 students and staff conducted a poverty simulations. 40 students attended a slam poet who was entertaining yet insightful to the issues still prevalent today. It was motivating to see individuals do something verses nothing on their day off. It makes me excited to be able to take students and staff in a few weeks to the King's Center in Atlanta over Alternative Spring Break.

As I reflect on Dr. King, I am drawn to his communication abilitites. Many individuals recite or know Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have Dream speech. How many individuals have heard or know more of his other great speeches?! (I Have Been to The Mountain Top to just name one of many) The communication part of me wishes our rhetoric could be so fabulous and rich. Where are these communicators today? Who can articulate and paint beautiful pictures in our minds. The picture depicted moves us in a unique way. Rhetoric pushing us to become advocates for a cause or creating a strong wave of personal action. Maybe this young man is on his way....in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. The following is a 5th Grader who is the 2011 Dallas Winning Speech for the 19th Annual Gardere MLK Jr. Oratory Competition -- Elijah English. He hopes to be the youngest president.