This year, as a part of Boston Latin School’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration, five school clubs hosted community service-related activities in the Dining Hall for the MLK Day of Service.
In addition to various other events in celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., such as schoolwide assemblies, BLS organizes the MLK Day of Service in partnership with the volunteer agency Boston Cares. Teachers had the opportunity to sign their class up for an activity and students would participate, earning community service hours to fulfill their 100-hour requirement.
The five clubs holding activities were Wolfpack Volunteers, BLS Junior Classical League (JCL), BLS Asian Students in Action (A.S.I.A.), BLS Recycling Committee and BLS UNICEF.
Wolfpack Volunteers continued one of their previous activities, called Service N’ Stuff, which they host every term. This involves painting small canvas tiles to put up in the Guidance office.
Kiara Montes De Oca (I) comments, “Community service doesn’t have to be boring. It can be fun, especially when you do it with friends.”
BLS JCL collaborated with Rosie’s Place, an organization that advocates for the dignity and security of homeless women. Students made care packages and wrote emails in support of turning several bills regarding homelessness into laws. Marcella Lampon, a public policy associate at Rosie’s Place, provided instruction.
In preparation for a sustainable Valentine’s Day, BLS Recycling Committee made flowers out of recycled paper in order to sell them and donate the proceeds to the Rose Kennedy Greenway, a public park in Downtown Boston.
BLS A.S.I.A. put together a presentation for their activity. This presentation analyzed the depiction of the Eastern world through a Western perspective, also known as Orientalism, through its history in Disney films.
BLS UNICEF wrote emails to Massachusetts state representatives to support legislative bills that would benefit children and families.
Discussing her first MLK Day celebration at BLS, Natalie Nguyen (IV) notes, “it was a nice way to see what other kids were doing for the community and it made me want to do something too.”
Overall, the student-led activities introduced a wide array of advocacy and involvement from a local to international scale and displayed the students’ hard work and initiative, while also earning its participants community service hours.
Although daunting, BLS’s 100-hour community service requirement encourages students to have the values exemplified by these activities. It follows Dr. King’s work in the Civil Rights Movement by emphasizing the importance of individual people strengthening their community.
BLS History Program Director and Community Service Coordinator Mr. Thomas Kennelly concludes, “Whether it’s a classroom, or a school, or a neighborhood, or a town or a whole country, if the members are involved, it’s gonna be a stronger community.”
