HARTSVILLE, S.C. – Coker College’s Center for
Engaged Learning, working with Coker athletics, the Office of
Campus Life and others across campus and in the community has
organized a series of activities, Jan. 12-16, that will culminate
in a community-wide day of service on Monday to honor Martin Luther
King Jr.
Coker’s official programming will begin with a public
ceremony at 9:15 a.m. on Thursday in the Davidson Hall
Courtyard. As part of the service, which is sponsored by
Campus Life, the Center for Engaged Learning and the Department of
Dance, Music and Theater, students will read portions of
King’s “I Have a Dream” speech and Coker alumna
Amesha Johnson will sing Patty Griffin’s tribute, “Up
to the Mountain.”
On Friday, a group of students, accompanied by Assistant Dean and
Center for Engaged Learning Director Darlene Small, Dean of
Students Jason Umfress, and Associate Professor of Theater and
Chair of Dance Music and Theater Phyllis Fields will travel to
Washington, D.C., to visit the new Martin Luther King Memorial,
which was dedicated last August, and other memorials and sites
important in the history of the civil rights movement. The
trip to the capital is sponsored by Coker’s African American
Studies Specialization, the Center for Engaged Learning, Campus
Life and the Dean’s Office.
“It’s one thing for us to watch or hear Dr. King give
the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, but it’s a totally
different experience to stand at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial
and visualize what it must have felt like to have been
there,” said Umfress. “This trip will give our
students an opportunity to examine the impact Dr. King’s
leadership had on our country, compare and contrast our country
then and now, and have important conversations about how they might
continue Dr. King’s legacy in our Coker community.”
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Coker College offices will be open,
but classes in Hartsville and on the satellite campuses in Marion
and Lake City will be suspended so that students and faculty can
participate, not only in activities in Hartsville but in their own
communities’ programs as well.
“While each of Coker’s 254 student-athletes have
already committed to participating in this year’s activities,
we are encouraging all students to complete at least two hours of
community service in recognition of the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr., a patriot who did much to alleviate poverty and
injustice,” said Small.
Among more than a dozen traditional service projects that are being
planned to support worthy organizations, including the Hartsville
and Timmonsville Boys and Girls Clubs, Habitat for Humanity, the
Darlington County Humane Society and area nursing homes, some
first-time projects will take place on Coker’s main campus on
Monday as well.
For example, from 2 to 3 p.m. at the Coker College baseball field,
Coker College baseball staff will conduct “Baseball Skills
& Drills,” a free baseball clinic for school children in
the area. For information about the clinic, please call Coach Ray
Marerro at 843-383-8189.
In addition, Assistant Professor of Library Science Megan A.
Johnson and her students will host a story and activity time for
children ages 5 to 7 at 2 p.m. in the second-floor atrium of the
Charles W. and Joan S. Coker Library Information-Technology
Center.
For a list of Coker’s service projects or to volunteer to
help, please contact the Center for Engaged Learning at
843-383-8039.
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Coker College readies undergraduates for personal and professional
success through a distinctive four-year program that emphasizes a
practical application of the liberal arts as well as hands-on and
discussion-based learning within and beyond the classroom. Coker is
ranked among the “Best Colleges” in the South by U.S.
News & World Report as well as The Princeton Review. Located in
Hartsville, S.C., Coker is within two hours of the cultural,
financial and recreational resources of Charlotte, Columbia,
Charleston and Myrtle Beach.