Civic action, campus speaker keep 'dream' alive

Penn College students, faculty and staff were among nearly 430 volunteers at a "Pack and Share" event in the Lycoming College Recreation Center during the Jan. 20 kickoff of "Dream Week," using their Martin Luther King Jr. holiday from offices and classrooms to better their community. During the three-hour service project, volunteers partnered with the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank to pack more than 2,300 meal kits for those in need. Several of the college's student leaders were interviewed for a video posted to the On the Pulse local news site. The commemoration continued Thursday night, as Mike Africa Jr. – member of the MOVE organization, hip-hop artist and motivational speaker – delivered a keynote address in the Klump Academic Center Auditorium. His "Never Give Up" message, also featured in Friday's editions of the Williamsport Sun-Gazette, encouraged neighborly collaboration as the key to societal change.

– Photos by Sammie L. Davis, coordinator of diversity and student engagement, and Tim Wegman, student photographer

 

Community peer educators Ethan M. McKenzie and Breanna M. Snyder staff the T-shirt table.

Selfless volunteers prep vegetable bags for distribution through the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank.

Elliott Strickland Jr. (near right), vice president for student affairs, joins the altruistic effort.

David Eaton, a CPE from Harrisburg, lends a hand.

Spreading the word about community service are (from left), Snyder; fellow CPE Katherine A. Downes, of Fleetwood; McKenzie and Eaton.

Serving up samples of the food being distributed is Olivia C. Ferki, a student development assistant from Richboro.

Lycoming's rec center is abuzz with purposeful activity.

Wildcat athletes were represented throughout the day – including the men's basketball team, joined (in foreground) by coach Geoff B. Hensley and his young son.

Greek Life, too, made its presence known in the brotherhood of Phi Mu Delta members.

Spreading the message through music

Photos help the keynoter tell a family history.

“Building community is the absolute most powerful thing that you can do to fight the wrongs,” Africa tells his audience.

Powerful graphics inform the byword of persistence.

McKenzie passes the mic to D. Robert Cooley, associate professor of anthropology/environmental science, during the evening's Q&A.