“Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Every year American University hosts a day of service in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. While many people think of MLK Day as a day off from school and work, AU’s Center for Community Service & Engagement wants you to think of it as a day on, not off. A day where we uphold the values taught to us by the great visionary King, and follow in his footsteps by providing direct service to our communities. AU brings together about 300 alumni, community partners, staff and students to give back to their DC home. 

While many volunteers from AU were sent out into the community, a small group stayed behind. At 10AM a large gaggle of children burst into the Mary Graydon Center. These young students from the Boys & Girls Clubs, accompanied by their parents, had given up their day off from school to give back. With the guidance of AU alumni, the students put together emergency kits, Nobel Peace Prizes, scarves, dream catchers, and preschool literacy kits. 

Jumpstart DC at American University was excited to be able to participate in the day of service. Jumpstart had a table set up where the youth colored the images on note cards that the adults then helped compile into literacy kits for preschoolers in local underserved communities. These flash cards have an image with the accompanying word, and are used by the preschool students to help them practice writing their letters and words. The words they practice are vocabulary from books used in their classrooms by our Jumpstart Corps Members. 

Beyond community service, the Jumpstart table was abounding with community engagement and networking. Alumni volunteers discussed with current students old tales of American University’s housing and the secret past of the Tavern, while exchanging business cards with each other and trading traveling tips. 

Jumpstart was proud to be able to contribute to the MLK Day of Service and in creating a welcoming environment to encourage community building. A day well spent!

-DeLancey Lane