CoB Celebrates the Spirit of MLK with Day of Service

For JMU students, faculty and staff, Martin Luther King Jr. Day was a holiday. Despite the day off, over 350 turned out for second annual College of Business (CoB) MLK Day of Service on Monday, Jan. 16. Together, they honored the Civil Rights leader’s legacy by participating in various service projects around the community.

Senior marketing major David Bruce and his classmates from the Digital Marketing Practicum course worked in teams, providing around 60 hours of marketing expertise for the Explore More Discovery Museum in downtown Harrisonburg. Led by their professor, Dr. Theresa Clarke, the students developed marketing strategies to help the museum persuade birthday party attendees to become museum members. 

“It’s very rewarding to apply the marketing skills we’ve been learning in our classes to helping a local organization,” says Bruce, president of the Madison Marketing Association. “These service opportunities are crucial for students because they prepare us to continuously think about ways to serve, especially when we get into our careers.” 

The event was organized by the CoB Diversity Council and Student Advisory Council. Accounting firm Dixon Hughes Goodman supported the event financially, providing  pizza and sending representatives to campus to support the students’ service efforts. 

Service projects included writing letters to soldiers serving overseas, assembling care kits for residents of the Gemeinschaft Home (a re-entry program for people just released from prison), preparing Valentine’s Day cards for nursing home residents and volunteering at Boys & Girls Club of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County. More than 3,000 food and non-food items were collected for the local food bank, and over 150 coats were collected for donation.

“During a 1957 speech delivered in Montgomery, Ala., the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said, ‘Life's most persistent and urgent question is, What are you doing for others?’” says Daphyne Thomas, faculty adviser to the CoB Student Diversity Council and chair of the CoB Diversity Council. “The College of Business  wanted to honor Dr. King’s legacy of service to others by encouraging our students to make positive contributions to society. Just as Dr. King did during his lifetime, we seek to create opportunities to work collaboratively and to empower students to grow, to develop, to learn and to contribute toward the betterment of the College of Business and the betterment of our nation.”