Each year since 2020, Riviera Ridge School has invited students to reflect upon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy in the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Committee Writing Contest.
This year, a record number of 10 Riviera Ridge students will be recognized for their thoughtful writing honoring Dr. King at the 18th annual celebration, Monday, Jan. 19 at the Arlington Theater in Santa Barbara.
As part of the Riviera Ridge School’s Kaleidoscope Program, which explores service learning, ethical leadership, and the philosophy and understanding of world religions, children in grades 4-8 take part in the contest open to students throughout Santa Barbara County.
The committee asks kids to think about a specific quote, and they can choose to respond with a poem or an essay. This year’s theme was based on Dr. King’s words concerning leadership:
“We need leaders not in love with money, but in love with justice; not in love with publicity, but in love with humanity.” – Aug. 11, 1956.
“The primary goal of this learning initiative is to connect the Kaleidoscope 4-8 classrooms in engaging with the Santa Barbara community,” said Kari Eiler, Riviera Ridge’s JK-8th grade Kaleidoscope specialist.
“It also helps them to think deeply about how Dr. King’s teachings speak to them personally and how they can be applied to our world today,” Eiler said.
Students have consistently received recognition for their entries into the MLKSB Foundation’s Poetry and Essay Award Celebration. This year, 10 students will read their original poems and essays honoring Dr. King at the Arlington event.
“Providing opportunities for young people’s voices to be centered, such as the Martin Luther King Jr. writing contest, creates space for students to share their perspectives,” Eiler said. “It also motivates young people to engage with their communities locally and globally.”
Eiler helped pioneer the Riviera Ridge School’s Kaleidoscope program, in collaboration with UCSB’s Religious Studies faculty, more than a decade ago. The curriculum involves the study if traditions and values of world religions and diverse cultures through a global and unifying perspective.
“The Riviera Ridge School’s core values of ethical responsibility, kindness, diversity, creativity and resilience, are all honed in this wonderful opportunity our Kaleidoscope program and the Santa Barbara community provides,” said Chris Broderick, head of school.
“When students are inspired by Dr. King’s profound words on social justice, they are encouraged to carry out our school’s mission of ‘purpose beyond self’ in a way that feels true and alive for them,” Broderick said.