Marking Martin Luther King Day
SUNWAY University, 13,000km away from the United States, celebrated Martin Luther King (MLK) Day with its American Degree Transfer Program (ADTP) students recently by setting up booths to raise awareness of the day.
MLK Day is an American federal holiday, which falls on the third Monday of January each year to commemorate the birthday (Jan 15) of the AfricanAmerican civil rights activist. He is most well-known for his campaigns to end racial segregation on public transport and for racial equality in the US. This year, MLK Day fell on Jan 19.
The event was organised by ADTP students undertaking the subject of Principles of Sociology as part of their assignments and supervised by Sunway University ADTP teaching fellow Jaime Yap Kwai Foon.
Students were assessed based on their presentation slides, booths – how they decorated their respective booths with the information and photographs of MLK – and response to questions from the public.
“Sociology is the study of human behaviour in society. In this subject, we do learn about Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr and his legacy. Besides, MLK is celebrated by Americans, from the US president to kindergarten children with various activities,” said Yap, who lived and lectured in the US for seven years.
“As the Centre for American Education at Sunway University, I think celebrating MLK Day on the same day as they do in the US is a great experience and exposure for students. It is good for our students to get handson experience and learn what is being practised in the United States.”
One group comprising Ashley Chong Yee Teng, Marisa Ezrah Biusing and Ahmad Nurafiq learnt about the Greensboro sitins and its significance in the US through the project.
The Greensboro sit-ins were a series of non-violent protests in Greensboro of North Carolina in 1960, which led to the Woolworth department store chain reversing its policy of racial segregation.
In addition, students’ creativity, teamwork, event organisation and time management skills were put to the test through the project.
“Finding new ways to attract visitors to our booth and to present MLK in a suitable way for the public to digest, was a challenge to our creativity,” said Too Seng Zhao with teammates Puteri Nur Izzaty, Ili Mariah and Jenny Loo.
“We were given a week to prepare while we had many assignments from other subjects, so we really needed to manage our time well. I would say these are things to learn and pick up in life.”
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