This past Jan. 20 marked the 30th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday celebrated as a National Day of Service. MLK Day, as it is commonly known, is a federal holiday dedicated to the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. His commitment to nonviolent activism, peaceful protests and equal rights for all — particularly in discrimination against African Americans — led to key legislative reforms and a Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
During this unique federal holiday, people are encouraged to use this time as a “day on, not a day off” and give back to their communities through volunteer service. This reflects Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy as a lifelong advocate for under-represented groups and the advancement of all people.
On Monday, Tech celebrated its 15th annual MLK Day of Service. Jayde Nelson, Director of Civic Engagement within the Center of Student Engagement, who organized this year’s event alongside student teams and external community organizations, spoke to the Technique about their work in furthering Dr. King’s legacy on campus.
“He was so instrumental in making sure there was equality and rights for Black individuals, but also equality for all, to make sure that no one man had a higher ground than someone else. We brought it to Georgia Tech because it’s a great way for our students to be able to get involved in the community. It’s really letting them know that the work that they’re doing in the classroom has a great effect outside the classroom, and they’re able to see that when they go and do service in these different neighborhoods,” Nelson said.
In past years, the event has acted as an opportunity for students to get off of campus and into the local Atlanta neighborhoods to collaborate with various service organizations for the day. This year, there were plans to work with Kirkwood, Trees Atlanta, Good Mews, Wylde Center and Concrete Jungle.
However, the unexpected snow and cold front over the past week moved plans indoors and led to unfortunate cancellations with many external partners. Nelson and her team quickly shifted to a single larger event with Rise Against Hunger, an international organization that helps people in communities with high levels of food insecurity.
“We love to go out into the community. So prior to this change, we had five different sites that we had secured to do a lot of different things outside in the community. I’m really grateful to them for this pivot because I let them know that we were canceling with them due to the weather, and once I saw the weather, I said that this would be a great opportunity to have something on campus. We love to keep the legacy of what it is to get out in the community. But it was, at what point is it too cold for students to be out doing work,” Nelson said.
Despite these adjustments, Nelson noted that registration of students and faculty increased significantly after the on-campus project was announced. 317 total participants were registered for attendance at Monday’s event, perhaps due to the convenient access and proximity of the accommodated location.
Monday morning opened with breakfast and presentations in the Atlantic Theater by Nicole Moore, the Director of Education at the National Civil and Human Rights Museum here in Atlanta, and Steve Fazenbaker, Program Director from the Division of Student Life, who spoke about the legacy of John Lewis, whom the Student Center is named after.
Moore shared the importance of continuing MLK’s legacy through community-oriented service. “They will never forget that somebody took time on a bitterly cold January morning to think about them, help them, extend a hand and say, ‘I don’t know who you are, but I got you,’” Moore said.
Attendees then moved to the Exhibition Hall, where tables upon tables filled with foodstuffs were ready to be organized and packed into meal kits for Rise Against Hunger to distribute, both domestically and internationally. By the end of the event at noon, over 20,000 meals had been packed and prepared by Tech students and faculty.
Nelson attributes the success of these events to Mobilizing Opportunities for Volunteer Experiences (MOVE), a student organization at Tech that focuses on community service outreach events. Nelson works with MOVE to organize volunteer opportunities for students throughout the school year, focusing on providing fulfilling and holistic experiences.
“Every time we have these events, we always offer a reflection. So it’s kind of like a pre and post-test, and we make sure that we really take the time to understand what that post-test means, so when we are developing how we want MLK Day of Service to look like every year, we go back to those reflections. What did they like? What didn’t they like? We want to make sure we make it as diverse as possible. We want to try and always hit different areas within the Atlanta community,” Nelson said.
Finding out about such events can sometimes be difficult with the variety of platforms that different organizations use. To address these challenges and consolidate their event planning process, a new platform, GivePulse, was introduced at the MLK Service Day presentation. This new site connects to Engage, focusing strictly on community service opportunities.
Nelson hopes that it will act as a “one-stop shop” for students to work with different community partners according to their own schedules.
“Our community partners also have access to GivePulse, so they can post the different volunteering opportunities that they have, and all of that can be registered for the student. The student can keep track of how many volunteer hours they have, who they work with, get sign-offs and things of that nature. We’re launching it this semester so we’re super excited about that,” Nelson said.
Students can now access GivePulse through Engage here: gatech.campuslabs.com/engage/service-opportunities. Access it through the little symbol of a hand with a heart on the left side of the webpage. Besides this annual MLK Service Day, there are many opportunities happening every day across campus and out in local communities that are organized through the Office of Civic Engagement.
Nelson wants to encourage students to get out and into their communities. “We want to make sure that we continue our Georgia Tech mission of ‘Progress And Service.’ And we are that service piece in that.”