Students take the lead in planning this year’s MLK Day ceremony in Lee’s Summit

The community is coming together to celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. at the University of Central Missouri’s Lee’s Summit campus Jan. 20.

The Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, with Aka’Ne Tinsley at the helm, has taken the reins for planning the ceremony. It’s the first year students are leading the celebration, with the help of faculty adviser Marlene Vann.

Students are focused on service projects during the day. Part of the event will be an evening award ceremony honoring a student and a faculty member who each show “the same dedication Dr. Martin Luther King showed during his life,” said Rick Smetana, director of UCM’s Lee’s Summit campus.

It’s not solely a university event: Mayor Bill Baird will offer a welcome address and the Pleasant Lea Middle School drill team plans to entertain the crowd.

“Right now, our program is more UCM-focused and based, so we bring in guest speakers to do with the University of Central Missouri to speak about Dr. Martin Luther King’s teachings,” Smetana said.

Smetana said city employees reached out to combine their efforts in planning the event with the university.

“The university as a whole spends the entire week celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, and we’re just trying to grow that into our community in Lee’s Summit as well,” he said.

“The city itself has been trying to make strides in diversity and inclusion. We were honored when the city came to us and wanted to partner to kind of grow that and make this event truly Lee’s Summit community-based.”

They plan to continue this partnership, hopefully moving the ceremony from the campus to John Knox Village in 2024 and extending the length of the ceremony by adding more performances and speakers.

“As we grow the event, we want to incorporate a community board that recognizes a citizen of Lee’s Summit and business of Lee’s Summit for their diversity and inclusion or how their daily lives represent the teachings of Martin Luther King,” Smetana said.

The student and faculty awards currently take nominations via a survey, with students nominating faculty members and vice versa. This year, nominations included five faculty members and seven students who have a presence on the Lee’s Summit campus.

Although Smetana had hoped to include local schools via an art contest, it didn’t work out this year. He said he’d like to try planning it again next year.