A featured speaker from the 2024 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Breakfast event. Photos: Myra Cappuccino
Students of all ages come together to honor Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
The Rotary Club of Prior Lake, in partnership with Prior Lake Savage Area Schools (PLSAS) will host its 4th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration from 10 a.m.–noon on January 20, 2025 at Prior Lake High School.
“The MLK Celebration’s mission is to bring unity to our community and celebrate our diversity in honoring the legacy of Dr. King Jr. and his life’s work,” says Sambath Ouk, the director of equity and inclusion for PLSAS.
According to Ouk, this year’s keynote speaker is Alex Krafft from Narrative 4, an organization which promotes storytelling as a means to promote connection in classrooms. “She will speak about how personal stories unite us,” Ouk says.
A vital part of the annual program is student involvement. “Our students in our Student Advisory Committee will be performing Amanda Gorman’s The Hill We Climb poem,” Ouk says “The Student Advisory Groups are made up of student leaders from the different cultural groups in our schools.” The groups represented include the Asian Student Association, the Black Student Union, the European Student Union, the Latinx Hispanic Student Union, the Muslim Student Organization and the Native American Student Coalition.
In addition to performing Gorman’s poetry, middle and high school students from Prior Lake and Savage were encouraged by the City of Savage to create a written work for the MLK Jr. Poetry/Essay Contest in connection with the event. “Contestants are to pick a quote from MLK Jr. that resonates with them and write a poem or essay describing its significance to them and what it means to our community in today’s time,” Ouk says. The winner will be honored at the celebration.
Audience from the 2023 MLK Celebration at Prior Lake High School. Photos: PLSAS
There will also be choral performances from the high school’s treble ensembles to perform Minnesota composer Kyle Pederson’s Sing Change, and the celebration will conclude with a performance from Glendale Elementary’s honors choir.
A live performance from the 2023 event.
Although the event has been a breakfast in the past, this year’s event will take place later in the morning—and still feature dishes from different cultures in the area.
Find more event information here.
All Ages. Free. Open to the public. 10 a.m.–noon, Prior Lake High School, 7575 150th St. W., Savage; plhs.plsas.org
