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Annual MLK Celebration highlights spirit of advocacy in uncertain times
Students across UNE's Maine campuses were called upon to make each other feel valued, seen, and heard in 2025
“What action will you take for a better world?”
The nine words, in bold, blue typeface, posed the question on a board displayed for all to see on a crowded first floor of the Danielle N. Ripich Commons. They echoed the sentiment of the day as hundreds gathered across the University of New England’s Maine campuses on Wednesday, Jan. 22, to pay homage to the late Martin Luther King Jr. and revel in the spirit of advocacy for the University’s annual MLK Jr. Celebration.
The annual event is held in honor of King’s historic 1964 visit to St. Francis College, the precursor to UNE’s Biddeford Campus, and to encourage discussion of racial equality in the 21st century.
This year’s celebration — held 61 years after King’s only visit to Maine — embodied the theme of “Advocacy in Action” and highlighted opportunities for thoughtful engagement in the sphere of community and belonging while recognizing King’s contributions to American history.
Alumni speaker Mark Montgomery, M.S.Ed. ’03, led the afternoon’s festivities with an inspiring keynote about his own journey to advocacy as a specialist in the academic motivation of inmates.
Mark Montgomery, M.S.Ed. ’03, delivers an impassioned keynote address and call to action around the theme of advocacy to students in the Danielle N. Ripich Commons on Jan. 22, 2025.
As he spoke fondly of his alma mater, UNE, Montgomery implored audience members to look around them and seek to understand every person’s individual journey, calling both empathy and humility key factors in academic retention.
“Take people with you (and) perform like you are thankful,” he said in an address that was also livestreamed to students on the Portland Campus for Health Sciences. “Education has no value unless you bring someone with you … people will never leave an environment where they are valued, seen, and heard. When you walk across that stage (at Commencement), we are saying you are prepared to make a difference in the world … So, I ask you first of all, ‘What are you doing today?’”
Following Montgomery’s lecture, attendees on both campuses broke for various activities aimed at inspiring meaningful local action. In Biddeford, participants were offered a fair with over 25 organizations, both on-campus and from the community, focused on advocacy — representatives from health care groups, service-learning organizations, and food pantries among them.
Students engage with over 25 on- and off-campus advocacy organizations, with representation from local food pantries, health care organizations, animal welfare causes, and more.
In Portland, students engaged in hand-writing postcards for individuals being released from incarceration in Maine to be included in harm-reduction kits that will be assembled by UNE’s health professions students throughout the academic year.
Also in Portland, students were given the opportunity to participate in a “read-in” at a local elementary school. The activity, co-sponsored by the Offices of Service Learning and Student Affairs, allowed students to engage with the local community and donate books centered on making positive change. Students in UNE’s online College of Professional Studies convened in the evening for a virtual discussion of the documentary “13th,” which explores the history of race and the criminal justice system in the United States.
Inside Arthur P. Girard Innovation Hall, UNE students convened to hand-write postcards for individuals being released from incarceration in Maine. Outside, students gather to read to children and donate books at Ocean Avenue Elementary School in Portland.
In line with the day’s theme, student speaker Olivia Lu-Alba (Medical Biology, ’25) encouraged her fellow Nor’easters not to feel overwhelmed in the face of adversity but to take small steps in the effort to build a better future.
“Advocacy doesn’t mean fixing everything all at once — it means refusing to do nothing,” she said. “It means using whatever power, privilege, or resources you have, whether that’s a quiet act of kindness or a bold effort to push for change.”
Writing a letter to a senator, donating to a relief fund, speaking up for someone who can’t do so themselves, picking up stray litter — all are examples of something a person can do to make a difference, Lu-Alba said.
“Advocacy isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about having the heart to care and the courage to act,” she held.
Olivia Lu-Alba (Medical Biology, ’25)
UNE President James Herbert spoke of the University’s commitment to inclusivity and belonging as “wired into our institutional DNA,” reminding the audience that UNE’s precursor institutions broke from societal norms — with St. Francis College in Biddeford serving French-speaking Franco-Americans at a time they were not embraced and Westbrook Seminary in Portland admitting women when most colleges did not.
UNE President James Herbert
“It is our privilege to carry forth the foundational values of our institution,” he said, noting that fostering a welcoming and vibrant community is cemented as a strategic institutional priority. “We live in a diverse society across many dimensions of human difference, and we believe our community must reflect the richness of that diversity in the context of a strong spirit of community and belonging.
“We all have a role to play,” he said. “And I am grateful for your partnership in this important work.”
Following the event, Shannon Zlotkowski, M.Ed., assistant provost for Community and Belonging at UNE, said the energy in the room was palpable and wished students the inspiration to take meaningful action.
“No matter which way someone participated in the MLK Celebration, I hope they were able feel hope, to reflect on their internal sense of what is right, and to take action during the event, no matter how small or large that action was,” she said.