High School Students Commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. At BBC

By: Jordan Coll/Staff Writer

Students from Miami Dade County high schools, including MAST, participated in the commemoration of Dr.King’s legacy. The Robert M. Coatie MLK Youth Forum dedicated to the 29th Annual Martin Luther King event took place at 10 a.m. in the BBC ballrooms. 

Hosted by FIU Academic Student Affairs Multicultural Programs and Services, students were impacted by the overall message she delivered on hope and perseverance.

“Everyone goes through their own set of small traumas but hearing how she spoke in moving forward really inspired me,” said Bill Desjardins, a junior at Law Enforcement Officers Memorial High School.  

Former FIU alumni, Education Advocate, 3-time NBA Champion entertainment reporter, and a mother of three, Lisa Arneaud was the keynote speaker for the event. 

She described the trivial circumstances she had to face entering her career in the television industry.

“As a former FIU student I feel that I am able to communicate my feelings of what I’ve learned throughout my years in college and was able to build towards my future,” said Arneaud.

In her speech, she highlighted the importance of never giving up despite the opposition faced in this world. As she brought to remembrance Dr.King’s efforts to fight against social injustice students were able to take her speech as a source of inspiration in maneuvering through the hardships of life.

“In hearing how she found success through her suffering resonated with me,” said Taliyah Brown a junior at Law Enforcement Officers Memorial High School.

During the Q&A session, students asked “how she was able to find success in a demanding field such as television?” or “what were her greatest accomplishments?”

“It was interesting to see how someone with her accomplishments accepted her own failure so easily but moved passed that,” said Zayne Morales, student vice president of the 500 African American Male Role Models of Excellence.

In the act of bringing to heart this act of progression, students who attended the forum walked around BBC in representing the ongoing heritage of Dr.King.

“Walking made me feel as if I was a part of something greater than myself,” said Desjardins.