K. William Harvey celebrates Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Megan Strickland
Rita Gergorich reads a story about Martin Luther King, Jr. to students at K. William Harvey Elementary School.
Megan Strickland
Olivia Cheff colors a rainbow that depicts what she thinks will make a more peaceful world.
Megan Strickland
Ronan students create colorful pictures of hope to celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr.
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RONAN — A sea of smiling faces of all colors greeted Rita Gergorich as she settled onto a stool to read an oversized version of “Happy Birthday Martin Luther King!” last week.
Decades of hatred and diligent work toward equal rights separate the childhoods of the K. William Harvey Elementary students and the handful of senior volunteers who sat down to talk about the life of the man who inspired a cultural revolution. The volunteers were coordinated through the Retired Senior Volunteer Program and the Foster Grandparent Program run through the Western Montana Area Agency on Aging.
“One of our volunteers told some personal stories of when they had traveled down south (during the Civil Rights era),” Foster Grandparents Program Director Maxine Garcia said. “She was so surprised, she was sitting next to a little black lady and then they made all of the black people move. She couldn’t understand that.”
Some of the children listened wide-eyed at the horrors of segregation, but others seemed less shocked and not surprised that people might judge others based on skin color.
“This holiday in particular honors diversity, different backgrounds, and peace between those backgrounds,” Dean of Students Carey Swanberg said. “Certainly right here we’re in a diverse community, so I think it’s extremely important to take note and honor that.”
Nicki Jimenez, a FoodCorps Service member at Lake County Community Development Corporation, organized the event, which is packaged by Montana Campus Compact, an organization that hosts AmeriCorps Vista in Montana. All of those organizations tout volunteering and public service as an important facet of a successful society.
Jimenez hoped the students learned that not only are they not confined to archaic social constructs of prejudices from the past, but that they can also make a difference and alter the society of the future.
“The people who are reading the books did live through that time and can maybe share personal stories,” Jimenez said. “Maybe they can share what that time was like, but also what it’s like to make change in the world. That’s a hopeful message for kids to learn early.”
After sharing and discussion, the students were prompted to make different works of art that depict their vision of a better world.
One table of kindergartners followed the lead of bright-eyed Olivia Cheff, and ferociously scribbled, drawing rainbows. Another boy in the same class drew a huge “x” mark over a burglar. “No more bad guys,” he explained to his teacher as she squinted at a sequence of words resembling the phrase.
Another small girl sang out “world peace, world peace” as she worked on a drawing.
Jimenez planned to display the artwork at businesses around town.
