NEWS
Tech’s 9th MLK noon ecumenical service to be held Monday, Jan. 17
Grambling State University president Dr. Frank G. Pogue will be the keynote speaker at the 9th Annual Martin Luther King Day Noon Ecumenical service to be held Monday, Jan. 17 in the Ruston Civic Center.
This service follows the annual Martin Luther King Unity March and Parade that will start at 11:30 a.m. at Louisiana Tech’s Thomas Assembly Center. Marchers will meet at 11:15 a.m. The march and parade will proceed east on Alabama Avenue and north on Monroe Street to the south entrance of the civic center. Those participating in the second leg of the march can join at Homer and Alabama streets, two blocks from the civic center.
Grand marshals for the parade will be Louisiana Tech women’s head basketball coach Teresa Weatherspoon and the Lady Techsters basketball team, and members of the Boys and Girls Club of North Central Louisiana.
The program will include participation by student groups and leaders from Grambling State and Tech universities, community groups, and area ministers and church choir directors.
The theme for this year’s program is “Stepping into the Past to Reconstruct the Future.” The theme was suggested by Tech student Jeremy James, president of the United African American Men and a member of the program’s planning committee.
“When I think of our theme, I immediately see parallels to the symbolic West African mythic Sankofa Bird that flies forward while looking backward with an egg, which represents the future in its mouth,” said Adam Collins, chairman of the MLK Ecumenical Observance planning committee and coordinator of multicultural affairs at Tech. “Just like the Sankofa, while moving forward, we must revisit our past and carry the best the past has taught us into our future.”
Music will be provided by the Rainbow Covenant Community Choir, a group comprising singers from the area coming together just for this event. Organized and coordinated by Lindelle Turner Weaver, the choir is accompanied by members of the South Parkway Church band with area musicians.
The program will continue a tradition in which a different church choir director directs each song on the program. A free jambalaya lunch with peach cobbler will be served.
“Support for this event has grown tremendously and grew out of our first MLK Unity March in 1992,” Collins said. “In 2002, we started the ecumenical service. We are proud to say that this event has grown tremendously over the years. People come from all over North Louisiana for this program.”
Collins said the program gets both financial and in-kind support from several area businesses and campus organizations.
Written by Dr. Reginald Owens
This service follows the annual Martin Luther King Unity March and Parade that will start at 11:30 a.m. at Louisiana Tech’s Thomas Assembly Center. Marchers will meet at 11:15 a.m. The march and parade will proceed east on Alabama Avenue and north on Monroe Street to the south entrance of the civic center. Those participating in the second leg of the march can join at Homer and Alabama streets, two blocks from the civic center.
Grand marshals for the parade will be Louisiana Tech women’s head basketball coach Teresa Weatherspoon and the Lady Techsters basketball team, and members of the Boys and Girls Club of North Central Louisiana.
The program will include participation by student groups and leaders from Grambling State and Tech universities, community groups, and area ministers and church choir directors.
The theme for this year’s program is “Stepping into the Past to Reconstruct the Future.” The theme was suggested by Tech student Jeremy James, president of the United African American Men and a member of the program’s planning committee.
“When I think of our theme, I immediately see parallels to the symbolic West African mythic Sankofa Bird that flies forward while looking backward with an egg, which represents the future in its mouth,” said Adam Collins, chairman of the MLK Ecumenical Observance planning committee and coordinator of multicultural affairs at Tech. “Just like the Sankofa, while moving forward, we must revisit our past and carry the best the past has taught us into our future.”
Music will be provided by the Rainbow Covenant Community Choir, a group comprising singers from the area coming together just for this event. Organized and coordinated by Lindelle Turner Weaver, the choir is accompanied by members of the South Parkway Church band with area musicians.
The program will continue a tradition in which a different church choir director directs each song on the program. A free jambalaya lunch with peach cobbler will be served.
“Support for this event has grown tremendously and grew out of our first MLK Unity March in 1992,” Collins said. “In 2002, we started the ecumenical service. We are proud to say that this event has grown tremendously over the years. People come from all over North Louisiana for this program.”
Collins said the program gets both financial and in-kind support from several area businesses and campus organizations.
Written by Dr. Reginald Owens
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