By Menachem Wecker
When committee members met to decide which nominees deserved the University’s 2010 Martin Luther King Jr. Award, they considered three major criteria: service, leadership and recognition.
“In years past, the majority of the applicants were well balanced in their responses across the three spectrums. This year, many of the applicants were particularly focused on service and leadership, with fewer awards or other instances of recognition,” says Michael Tapscott, director of GW’s Multicultural Student Services Center.
“We found that trait to be reflective of a different trend in student engagement, where the students at GW are more focused on service and leadership and, perhaps, less focused on earning recognition,” adds Mr. Tapscott. “Very ‘King’ like to me!”
According to Mr. Tapscott, nominees undergo an application process, which includes writing an essay detailing their interest in the award and the ways Dr. King influenced or inspired their life decisions.
The five undergraduate student winners – seniors Shakir Cannon-Moye, Jordan Chisolm, Michael Garber, Cynthia Pedemonte and Tura Woods – and the staff award winner, Bernard Demczuk, assistant vice president of D.C. government relations, received their awards at a ceremony held in the Dorothy Betts Theatre on Jan. 14. GW President Steven Knapp offered opening remarks at the ceremony, which was hosted by the Multicultural Student Services Center.
“I was very excited to be recognized for my efforts on campus with the Martin Luther King Jr. Award,” says Mr. Garber, who is the communications director of GW College Democrats, has served on the executive board of the Jewish Student Association, and founded GW Interfaith Action. “I would like the GW community to remember Dr. King’s legacy of reaching across racial and religious lines to work together, a legacy to which we can all aspire.”
It was a sentiment echoed by other award winners. “I was absolutely thrilled and pleased to receive the award,” says Dr. Demczuk, who serves as faculty adviser for the George Washington Williams House, a living-learning cohort that studies African American history and culture, and is the founder of “It’s Blackademics!” and the GW/Foggy Bottom African American Heritage Trail. “Like Dr. King, I choose to be with the poor, the underprivileged and the homeless. I choose justice and to devote my life to public service.”
Mr. Cannon-Moye, whose affiliations include the NAACP, Organization of Latino Students, Upward Bound, Black Student Union, Colonial Cabinet and Big Brother Big Sister, was “very humbled and honored” to be an award recipient. “One of my favorite of Dr. King’s quotes is ‘An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.’
“As a result of MLK and other role models in my life, I realized that success is only truly measured by the number of people that you are able to help,” he says.
Asked what members of the GW community should contemplate during the upcoming holiday, Mr. Tapscott and Dr. Demczuk offered some thoughts.
“Dr. King is an inspiration for all Americans to be mindful of an other-centered, rather than a self-centered, life,” says Dr. Demczuk. “For me, Martin Luther King Jr. Day isn’t a day off; it’s a day on to work for peace, justice and love.”
Mr. Tapscott says, “Dr. King lived in a purposeful and values-driven manner that inspired the world. He cared for others; he showed great integrity and character; he honored his spiritual beliefs; and he answered the spiritual and civil rights call to lead each time the call appeared.
“He rarely wavered, and even in the face of death, he accepted the responsibility that comes with leadership without hesitation,” he adds. “Dr. King knew that his life would be cut short, the words ‘I may not get there with you’ indicated his awareness of impending doom. Yet, he stood tall, and pressed on. That is what people should think about during this Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.”