The festivities began with the community advocate host, Tony Moore, ’03, welcoming everyone to the ceremony. The welcome was followed by an address by the keynote speaker and Vice President for Student Life, Dr. Eddie Knowles. He spoke primarily about his fond memories of Dr. King and how his life had greatly impacted him.

Due to a death in the family, President Jackson was unable to make an appearance at the event. In her absence, Dr. Knowles read a heartfelt letter referring to the significance and true meaning of the term “Embrace the Dream.”

Bruce Elliot, president of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity was the next to speak. He referred to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as an idol and said that if he could have dinner with one dead person, it would be Dr. King.

Sasha Hill, ’06 continued the event by proceeding to read a section of Dr. King’s immortal “I Have a Dream” speech. Hill then gave a speech about her personal experiences as a freshman, and how the Offices of Minority Student Affairs and the First-Year Experience departments helped her fit in at RPI and feel at home.

The final speaker was the president of the Residence Hall Association, Dwayne Sterling, ’04. He concluded with a speech about campus unity, achievements made thus far, and referred to how Rensselaer and its achievements are stepping closer to becoming a united group of people—a true campus community—rather than a mixture of races, religions, and ethnicities.

Afterwards, the true highlight of the day began with community service. Participants had registered in advance for several locations where service was needed. Everyone was grouped according to the location where they were volunteering.

The volunteer work was done at a variety of locations throughout Troy. One location was Prospect Park, in honor of RPI’s first African American graduate. Volunteers helped in the building of an outdoor public ice skating rink, which will be the first in Rensselaer County. Jeff Andritz, President of the Interfraternity Council, commented regarding RPI greeks, “We do a lot of community service, but we want to do more for the community we live in.”

The next location was the Junior Museum, which teaches children about the sciences, the arts, and history. Volunteers at this area helped teach students how to make musical instruments, using recycled materials.

Another location was The Ark, a community based after-school educational center. Volunteers helped with cataloging and taking inventory of the library’s collection. James Wilson, ’03 after working, commented that, “The amount of work accomplished on Monday would not have been possible without the deep involvement of the unified RPI greek system.”

Yet another group of volunteers met with historian Tom Carroll to research the Troy’s African American industrial heritage and began to develop a PowerPoint presentation to be used to explain the valuable role that African Americans played in Troy. Sheela Nath, a first year Grad student, stated, “I really had no idea what to expect from the community when I came here. I now know the true outpouring of effort and the idea of improving the community.”

Another location was the Literacy Volunteers of America, in which volunteers also categorized and labeled books for the new Senator Bruno Resource Center. Pashmina Lalchandani, ’03 stated, “The important thing was that we were doing the service as a community and working together to better appreciate a small part of Dr. King’s dream.”