Dozens of civic-minded Missouri S&T students will start their spring semester by participating in a day of service to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  

Around 80 students are expected to participate in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service on Monday, Jan. 16. Teams of volunteers will work at Phelps County locations including:

• Greentree Learning Center
• Newburg Children’s Museum
• Ozark Actors Theatre
• The Kaleidoscope Discovery Center
• South Central Veterans Group
• Ozark Rivers Audubon-Audubon Trails Nature Center.

The volunteers will return to campus for a celebratory dinner. During the dinner, Steve Parks, director of programs at Diversity Awareness Partnership in St. Louis, will discuss the importance of diversity in an engaged community. Parks earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering management from S&T in 1982.

The first Martin Luther King Jr. Day was observed in 1986. In 1994, as a tribute to King’s personal commitment to service, Congress designated the day a national day of service. Missouri S&T volunteers will join the efforts of thousands of individuals and organizations across the county to commemorate the day.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service is sponsored by the Missouri S&T student involvement department and the S&T Student Council.

About Missouri University of Science and Technology

Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) is a STEM-focused research university of over 7,000 students. Part of the four-campus University of Missouri System and located in Rolla, Missouri, Missouri S&T offers 101 degrees in 40 areas of study and is among the nation’s top 10 universities for return on investment, according to Business Insider. S&T also is home to the Kummer Institute, made possible by a $300 million gift from Fred and June Kummer. For more information about Missouri S&T, visit www.mst.edu.