Continuing Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy of community advocacy, Oakland University’s Office of Student (OSI) Involvement kicked off African American Celebration Month (AACM) with MLK Day of Service.
An ensemble of diverse arts-and-crafts stations brought the Gold Rooms of the Oakland Center to life on Wednesday, Jan 17. The heavy snow and delayed class start did not discourage approximately 150 attendees who started arriving at around 9:50 a.m.
“Service was a really big part of MLK’s legacy,” OSI graduate assistant, Katie Zvonek, said. “We would really like to keep that going. Volunteering is a big part of what we do here at OU as well.”
The hygiene, literacy and activity kits crafted by attendees were sent to local community partners ranging from The Bottomless Toy Chest to Detroit’s veteran services. Letter writing, drawing activities and rock decorating were also available for students to express their gratitude towards the community.
The Leadership and Volunteering Center (LVC) and the Center for Multicultural Initiatives (CMI) were also instrumental in this year’s MLK Day, as they integrated a recent focus on community service and networking with local nonprofit partners.
“Earlier this year, we did a volunteer fest where students could work with almost 20 different community partners,” Zvonek said.
The MLK Day event, Zvonek said, was “very graciously” sponsored by the Alliance for Coalitions for Healthy Communities (ACHC). Thus, students weren’t the only ones giving back to the community, as the latter provided —through on-campus and off-campus collaborations — the opportunity for volunteering itself.
Even though the event was oriented towards supporting local nonprofits and charity organizations, it also served to bring OU students together.
“I enjoyed it because you get to interact with your hands and talk to people around you,” Hayle Monjaras, a senior, said. “My favorite part of the event was honestly, how welcoming everything was. How different the event was to things we see most of the time… I’ve never been to a type of event like that.”
In addition to the students, Zvonek said faculty members, coaches and athletic staff attended.
By 5 p.m., with a large number of attendees still finishing their crafts, the event came to a lively end.
The level of student involvement reflects a great start for the month-long African American Celebration. It also reflects the diversity of the celebration month as informative events like the Black Hair: Politics, Discrimination and the CROWN Act event took place a day after MLK Day of Service.
Monajaras also reflected on the balance between interactive and informative events during AACM.
“There are going to be other events that can show you something and you can learn from them,” Monjaras said. “I think they could use the whole aspect of doing things with your hands and also finding a way to give information at the same time.”
The Day of Service event not only honored Martin Luther King’s legacy but also OU community members.
“This event has been hosted several years in a row,” Zvonek said. “Last year it was put on by Daryl Blackburn who unfortunately passed away last summer.”
The strengthening of campus and local communities through art echoes and honors the accomplishments and history of its members.
For more information about AACM’s events, visit CMI’s website.
