David McRaney  |  Journalist

Students walk in King's footsteps

A large group of USM students gathered in front of the Payne Center at 9 a.m. Monday to participate in the "I Have a Dream to Keep Hattiesburg Clean" memorial service project. The purpose of the project was to celebrate the life of the late civil rights leader by serving the Pine Belt community in a downtown cleanup project promoting unity and self-empowerment.

"It is an awesome idea that young people would come together to contribute and give back to their community

on a day they are scheduled to be off and out of class," said City of Hattiesburg's Chief Administrative Officer Beverly Commodore, who spoke

before a crowd of approximately 60 students, most from USM fraternities and sororities, who signed up to participate in the cleanup.

"This year it will certainly be a contribution to the community after Hurricane Katrina and all the devastation," added Commodore. "Dr. King was a person of service and wanted to make contributions to change our nation and our local communities. I think it's awesome we keep his dream alive."

Ann Jones, general manager of parks and recreation for the city, also thanked the crowd before detailing the procedures and handing out bags, vests, gloves and maps.

According to Jones, the Keep Hattiesburg Beautiful project partnered with the USM Office of Community service and approximately 20 other campus organizations to launch the event which focused on the Mobile-Bouie area.

The students disembarked around 9:30 a.m., joined with other organizations and separated into routes along Edwards St., Katie Ave., Manning Ave. and Mobile St.

The volunteers then joined up with other Southern Miss student organizations from noon to 2 p.m. to participate in an activities carnival at Robertson Place apartments located on 201 Katie Ave. The carnival, also sponsored by the Family Network Partnership, included learning and fun activities for area children. USM students also contributed to the carnival by purchasing supplies, games and food.

King's day of remembrance concluded with a celebration ceremony at 6 p.m. at Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, also located downtown, titled "The Dream: Community of the New Millennium." The ceremony included performances by students from Mt. Carmel School, community members and Southern Miss. It culminated in an essay competition and an MLK tribute by the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity of which King was a member.

In total, 110 people participated in the cleanup event, said Monica Robertson of the USM Office of Community Service Learning.

She added in years past the office focused on student organizations, but this year USM wanted to get out into the community and get more people involved.

"One of the issues we wanted to focus on was education, and I feel as if everyone was educated. Many people didn't know anything about those areas of Hattiesburg."

This year marks twentieth anniversary of the observation of Martin Luther King Day, which was officially observed in all 50 states for the first time in 1999.

To learn more about other days of service around the country in honor of Dr. King, visit www.mlkday.org.

Originally published in The Student Printz on January 19, 2006