Sunway University’s ADTP students celebrated Martin Luther King Day

Sunway University, 8083 miles away from the United States of America, celebrated Martin Luther King (MLK) Day with its American Degree Transfer Program (ADTP) students setting up booths to raise awareness of this day.

MLK Day is an American federal holiday, which falls on the third Monday of January each year, to commemorate the birthday (January 15) of the African-American civil rights activist. He is most well-known for his campaigns to end racial segregation on public transport and for racial equality in the US. This year MLK Day fell on 19 January.

From left: Ashley Chong Yee Teng, Marisa Ezrah Biusing and Ahmad Nurafiq

This event was organised by ADTP students undertaking the subject of ‘Principles of Sociology’ as part of their assignments and supervised by Jaime Yap Kwai Foon, ADTP Teaching Fellow of Sunway University. Students were assessed with their presentation slides, booths – how they decorated their respective booths with the information and photographs of MLK, and their response to questions from the public.

From left: Puteri Nur Izzaty, Ili Mariah, Jaime Yap (ADTP Teaching Fellow), Jenny Loo and Too Seng Zhao

“Sociology is the study of human behavior in society. In this subject, we do learn about Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr and his legacy. Besides, MLK is celebrated by Americans, from the US president to kindergarten children with various activities. As the Centre for American Education at Sunway University, I think celebrating MLK Day on the same day as they do in the US is a great experience and exposure for students. It is good for our students to get hands-on experience and learn what is being practiced in the US,” said Jaime who lived and lectured in the US for 7 years.

ADTP Students from the subject of ‘Principles of Sociology’ celebrated Martin Luther King Day with their lecturers

One group comprising Ashley Chong Yee Teng, Marisa Ezrah Biusing and Ahmad Nurafiq learnt about the Greensboro sit-ins and its significance in the US through this project. Greensboro sit-ins was a series of nonviolent protests in Greensboro of North Carolina in 1960 which led to the Woolworth department store chain reversing its policy of racial segregation in the US.

In addition, students’ creativity, teamwork, event organisation and time management skills were put to the test in this project. “Finding new ways to attract visitors to our booth and to present MLK in a way suitable for the public to digest the information in such a short time at our booth is a challenge to our creativity. We were given a week to prepare this while we have many more assignments from other subjects, so we really need to manage our time well. I would say all this are things to learn and pick up in life,” said Too Seng Zhao with his teammates Puteri Nur Izzaty, Ili Mariah and Jenny Loo.