City High’s Student Diversity and Equity Council began planning a host of activities for Martin Luther King Jr. Day to celebrate his life and accomplishments towards racial equity and justice. This year, the holiday will be January 21.

“MLK day will help promote diversity in City High because the various activities that will be taking place all have something to do with talking about the different kinds of people and their differences. It gives us a chance to celebrate our differences,” Michelle Tran-Duong ‘19 said. “Days like MLK Day let students spread the word about diversity and its importance.”

With the guidance of teachers Amy Kahle and Meg Corbin, students have outlined plans for celebrating the holiday. So far, it is looking to differ from regular school days, and discussions have been outlined to be about Immigration and Civil Rights and the Modern Civil Rights movement and their relation to Martin Luther King Jr.

“Diversity is very important to me and MLK day is a day that truly represents and celebrate the beauty of diversity in a way to bring different kinds of people together. MLK Day can be used for awareness to promote diversity at City High and show other students that our diversity makes us the school that leads,” Virginia Muturi ‘19 said.

Other students within the group organizing immigration discussions agreed, adding that Martin Luther King Jr. day offered a way to showcase and celebrate the diversity of students.

“Oftentimes, people don’t focus on other people. The minorities at school don’t have a spotlight, so MLK day is a day they can present themselves and talk about their background and what they come from to get people to understand that there are other people that are people just like them that have the same fears and ideas,” Olivier Shabani ‘19 said.

Following Martin Luther King Jr. Day, SDEC has tentative plans to start working an assignment from Principal Bacon to help stop and report unsafe behavior and ensure that every student has a safe place to talk to someone if they experience bullying.