Members of the Westover community chose to “Shine a Light” during the week of January 17 for a week-long series of gatherings and activities in observance of this year’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Westover classes were not in session as the School observed an academic break between the fall and spring semesters, but students, faculty, staff, and other members of the community gathered virtually (for the most part) to reflect on the civil rights leader’s legacy and to examine what still needs to be done to achieve his dreams of equality.

In an introductory email to the School community about the week’s events, Dean of Students Tasheana Dukuly noted, “This work is more critical than ever as we navigate issues of racial injustice and denounce the violence, white supremacy, and hate speech so recently seen in our country. Our theme this year is ‘Shine A Light,’ as light can be a guiding force as we reconnect in the new year; it can give hope in a time of darkness as we continue to live through a global pandemic, and it also illuminates the truth that sometimes can be difficult to see.”

Organized by the Rasin Center for Global Justice with the help of a committee of faculty and students, the events were designed to give members of the Westover community opportunities “to connect with one another and the themes and lessons of King’s life and those voices around him,” Tasheana added.

The week-long activities culminated on Saturday, January 23, with a series of community service activities organized by Robyn Ames, Westover’s Director of Community Service, which gave 32 students the opportunity to “shine a light” in a variety of ways.

Although students and other volunteers had hoped to take part that day in an on-campus fundraising walk for IRIS (Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services), cold weather prevented the walk from happening. Nevertheless, as of Monday, January 25, the students on the Westover team slated to participate in the walk had raised $595 in donations to IRIS, a New Haven-based non-profit organization.

“We are still accepting donations through Wednesday, January 27,” Robyn added, so she hopes the overall total will grow.

Instead of their walk, Robyn said, the student volunteers joined forces for three hours to make  a dozen blankets for children residing at the St. Vincent DePaul Mission in Waterbury, made 30 fleece chew toys for dogs staying at Companion Pet Rescue in Southbury, and wrote letters of support to students at the Tyner Elementary School in Jackson County, Kentucky, where Westover students have run a week-long summer camp program since 2013.   

“The students who came to the Rasin Center to work together on Saturday did such a great job,” Robyn said, “and, just as importantly, we were able to connect a little as a community again” since the School had been in a virtual environment since the Thanksgiving break.  

Earlier in the week, a dozen or so students gathered virtually over two evenings to support the School’s Amnesty International group’s human rights efforts around the world. The student volunteers wrote a total of 30 letters to government officials in half a dozen countries on behalf of victims of human rights abuse.

Among the other “Shine a Light” activities and events held during the week were:

• A community movie screening on Sunday, January 17, for the 2019 film Just Mercy, which dramatized the work of Bryan Stevenson, a black attorney who founded the Equal Justice Initiative to provide legal representation for poor prisoners and others facing unfair trials or possibly wrongly convicted of crimes.

• On Monday, January 18 — Martin Luther King Jr. Day —the School held its formal kick-off event for the week’s activities with an all-school virtual gathering. The evening included an online, interactive Kahoot! game, led by Kira DeSimone, Inclusion Program Coordinator, which tested Westover student and adults on their knowledge of U.S. Civil Rights history.

• On Thursday, January 21, Dr. Lisa Jenkins gave a presentation for Westover’s 2020-21 Speaker Series, sharing her insights on “Dismantling Unconscious Biases: Past, Present & Future” with students, faculty, parents, alumnae, and members of the general public. Dr. Jenkins, a cultural strategist who currently is a faculty member teaching multicultural studies and cultural diversity for the City University of New York, told those in attendance to “Step out of silence and into action.”