A tradition at University Liggett School is to bring the community together for a service project on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. This year, as part of adapting to COVID-19 restrictions, organizers expanded activities beyond a single day.
The diversity, equity and inclusion team collaborated with all school divisions to create opportunities for students and families to view life, history and people through different lenses and walk in another person’s shoes. According to Jane Berger, director of marketing and communications, offerings this year were inspired by student initiatives in the upper school, but contributing to them is an all-school initiative.
For example, junior Rose Jewell founded the non-profit See My Vision and is connecting with eye-care professionals to provide glasses and free eye exams for those who cannot otherwise afford to take care of their vision. ULS is collecting old eyeglasses — in both children and adult sizes — and monetary donations.
“Rose hopes better vision will lead to more confident readers, job opportunities, and more success,” Berger said.
In another example, sophomores Ally Metry and Summer Orlowski connected with the non-profit Shoes That Fit. The organization uses donations to provide children in need with properly fitting shoes. The ultimate goal for the ULS community is to raise $5,000, which will pay for 200 pairs of shoes for a local elementary school in the Detroit area.
Finally, over the course of last week, a few students in the middle and upper schools who wanted to honor the life and work of Dr. King put together a virtual read-aloud of picture books about the civil rights icon. In addition to reading, students reflected briefly on what Dr. King meant to them. Click here to watch the students’ message of community, civic engagement and commitment to social justice.
“Dr. King is really important to me because I believe that we really need to work on ending racial injustice,” said junior Bode Neumeister, who read a passage from Memphis, Martin and the Mountaintop: The Sanitation Strike of 1968, by Alice Faye Duncan. “We’ve progressed really far so far and we’ve done a good job … but his work is not complete. It’s important for us to learn what he did in order for us to apply it to more modern times.”
Senior Camron Herbert, who read from King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, said King was “important to me and my family because he's paved the way not only for successful African Americans, but members of minorities who have been oppressed for so long. He has given all of us a voice to keep pushing forward even many generations after he has passed.”
Hi! Thank you for posting about Shoes That Fit Liggett Challenge. Follow us on insta to stay updated @stfvsligg! I’m going to share this post there. -Ally Metry