Monday, Jan. 19, Gunnison Middle School celebrated the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by devoting the day to his teachings.
After the first bell, the middle school students settled into the auditorium to hear from presenters ranging from school staff to Mayor Diego Plata and other city officials and even a former student.
Mayor Plata used the presentation as a call to action after an explanation of Dr. King’s beliefs and practices.
“There’s still a lot of work that needs to be done, particularly from your generation,” he said. “It’s okay to be scared and uncertain. Remember there’s always room for kindness and understanding.”
Deputy police chief Frank Rodriguez and city manager Amanda Wilson followed the mayor, cementing his comments. Drew Hanks, a former student and current special education teacher at GMS, read a poem he had written in high school about his first realizations of the privileges that set him apart from his friends and classmates.
“Each of us has an opportunity to be a giant,” said Wilson. “And to stand on the shoulders of giants. Today is just as much about MLK as it is about you.”
“The beauty of this country,” Rodriguez added, “is that we are all different shapes, sizes and colors. True justice must be colorblind.
The seventh-th and eighth-grade drama students gathered on the stage to read MLK’s “I Have a Dream Speech,” teaching their classmates that just because King believed in nonviolence, doesn’t mean he practiced inaction.
“We’ve tried for many years to incorporate parts of MLK’s legacy into our day,” said school counselor Sara Lamar, who got emotional watching the preteens recite the famous speech. “I think it’s an incredible opportunity that we have, to have our kids here, and to have a whole day to focus on this community, and how they can go out and create their own communities and change the world in their own ways.”
After the presentation, students cleared out to begin their rotation of activities. A collection of community members gathered in the school to teach the students different aspects of King’s teachings and practice kindness and action in different stations throughout the day. Presenters hailed from many different corners of the valley including Gunnison County Juvenile Services, Gunnison Valley Mentors, Western’s women’s soccer team and Asian Pacific Islanders Club (APIC), the Center for Adult and Family Literacy and many others.
“This is a great opportunity for us to celebrate our community and continue to build our community here,” said vice principal Renee Brekke. “We have a diverse population of students, which is a wonderful thing, and this day helps us celebrate that. The outreach from the community is incredible, to get all of these guests in allows teachers to be students as well and be a part of that community building piece.”
“I can’t believe we have so many of our community members here presenting,” added principal Lance Betts. “We’re really trying to get our students to understand that it’s okay to disagree, it’s okay to present different ideas, but we need to help them understand how to do it.” Principle Betts mentioned that there was no shortage in eagerness from volunteers, and they even have people lined up to present at next year’s event.
Students made art, built sculptures, helped clean up trash from around campus, practiced yoga and mindfulness and listened to many in-depth presentations including topics like connection, community, resilience, leadership and even food insecurity.
“I was watching them, and you can see how eager they are to do something now. This day, I hope, empowers the kids,” Brekke said. “They listen to these messages and then they get to go out and act on it and I think that’s really special.” Above everything, this was a day about action.
“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor,” Mayor Plata told the students.
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