Each year on January 15th, we have the honor of being able to celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., across the globe. As a result, the Star-C after-school program took part in the celebration, by highlighting the life and the key philosophies that Dr. King left behind. Through an event Star-C participated in during the summer called “Peace Playground,” coordinated by our after-school director, Allie, and the Northlake Church of Christ, the children revisited the principle of peace advocated by Dr. Martin Luther King. The children demonstrated their understanding of each principle with their creative expressions in the forms of art, dance, singing. During past “Peace Playground” events, the children created banners, which highlighted what they learned from the principles that day. This time the following peace principles, “a loving community makes a peaceful world,” “fight bad things, not bad people,” “be peaceful when others are not because that is the peaceful world we want,” “be peaceful on the outside and inside,” and “the whole world is on the side of justice,” were reenacted through a play put on by the Star-C kids. The children also made a new mural honoring the Civil Rights movement, and the mural will hang in the after-school area all year.
Although school was out for the children at the Star-C after school program on this day, they all took full advantage of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day to celebrate by demonstrating their own understanding of what Dr. King fought and died for, for this country. They all expressed how exciting it was to bring “Peace Playground” back for this day, and they look forward to more “Peace Playground” events in summer camp later this year!