Seventh Annual Martin Luther King

• Citation: Vol. 49 No. 4
• Publication year: 2024

Seventh Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School Poster-Essay Contest Vol. 49 No. 4 Pg. 12 Vermont Bar Journal January 2024

WHAT'S NEW

By Kim Velk, Esq.

Each year, a committee comprised of representatives from the VBA staff, the VBA Diversity Section, and the VBA Young Lawyers Division, chooses a quotation by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to inspire Vermont's middle school students to participate in a Poster-Essay Contest. This year's quotation came from Dr King's 1964 Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech: "We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers."

After removing the names and identifying information from the entries, the judges choose a winner, a first runner-up, and a second runner-up. The judges this year were again impressed with the varied and thoughtful responses of the contestants.

Many of the entries represented the "flying like birds" (airplanes) and swimming like fish (submarines or scuba divers). Others focused on MLK, Jr. himself, his history and some of the other things for which he was famous. The winners were distinguished by the obvious degree of effort the students had put into their posters and the essays.

In addition to being published in the Vermont Bar Journal and on the VBA website, the winning entries were displayed at the VBA Young...