OASD hosts community gathering to celebrate legacy of MLK

The community of Oshkosh united to remember Martin Luther King Jr.’s inspiring message of justice through peace and active involvement. On MLK Day, January 19, the Oshkosh Area School District hosted the second annual celebration of his legacy. Students, staff, and guardians alike were invited to Vel Phillips Middle School to honor the day with musical performances, presentations by the MLK Essay Contest winners, speeches, and more. 

The celebration began with a continental breakfast, encouraging the community to join together while enjoying a meal. After this, the stage welcomed many different voices and topics. Senior Amiyah Thomas, a member of the Black Student Union, attended and spoke on stage to end the event.

photo by Grace Schellinger

“The breakfast was great, then we got to learn a lot from the speakers,” she said. “We got to experience new music. The essay winners spoke so clearly.”

The event emphasized the voices of students, providing them with an inviting environment to share their own beliefs and experiences towards justice. OASD Director of Community Engagement and Equity, Anthony Miller Jr., agreed with this importance.

“I think that the young people in the Oshkosh School District are the most important people in our community,” he said. “Being able to lift them up and give them an opportunity to speak is both meaningful and impactful.”

After being heavily involved in organizing the event last year as well, Miller was thrilled with the more student-led approach this time.

“I would say that the biggest difference was the keynote speaker being a student instead,” he said. “Dr. Sam Coleman was the speaker last year.”

Oshkosh North freshman Mooka Subulwa took on an immense role as the keynote speaker after a newfound motivation.

“Anthony Miller and Dr. Coleman are big role models in my life. My dad’s an active member in the community and he speaks a lot at city council meetings,” he said. “They put a lot of trust in me with this, and I won the essay contest in 2020. I wanted to build off of that and create a better speech.”

Subulwa believed the intention behind the district’s honoring of this day was valuable.

“I think what makes it important is that people shed light on what’s actually going on and what Dr. King did,” he said, “Don’t just let it be another day.”

The call to action is now. Subulwa included specific connections while speaking on stage.

“The quote at the end of my speech was, ‘tomorrow is today,’” he said, “There is such a thing as being too late. I never want to be the person who’s too late and lose an opportunity.”

Coleman highlighted three specific topics that Dr. King emphasized during the civil rights movement. Voting was one of the most significant.

“Making sure that people understood that they had a right to vote, and then advocating for the right to vote,” he said. “We should be able to represent our interests as members of this community by exercising our right to vote.”

Another concern of Dr. King’s that Coleman wanted to highlight is unconditional inclusion.

“Dr. King cared a lot about socioeconomic justice and making sure that we didn’t just set a bar for inclusion, but when we do include people, we make sure they have the same power, agency, and access to resources as other people who are in those spaces,” he said.

Dr. Coleman agrees with Dr. King that unwavering faith and a strong belief system are equally crucial to overcome any unforeseen obstacles.

“Dr. King was a minister, a reverend, and his belief in his faith is what moved him to do something that many people thought would be impossible in this nation,” he said. “No matter what people’s belief systems are, it is important that we believe in principles that push us forward as a society and that belief system has to be stronger than issues that occur around us and may discourage us.”

Towards the middle of the event, the MLK Essay Contest winners were recognized. The various levels of education had a variety of winners. 

“Our essay competition was inspired by true peace, not merely the absence of tension. It is the presence of justice,” Coleman said, “Reading through the essays gave me so much inspiration, but being able to acknowledge the students for their hard work is something that I really love about this event.”

Senior William Amel was recognized as the first place winner for the MLK essay contest at the high school level.

“My essay was about joining together and getting out of the trap of social media,” he said, “how real connection and work in the community comes through breaking unjust laws, organizing together in public, and being educated and informed on the topics.”

Amel was intentional with his writing and involvement.

“We live in a time where a lot of the message that Dr. King often wanted to preach seems to be a lot more lost,” he said. “Remembering what he did and his message is going to be really important in bringing kindness into the next generation.”

Senior Micah Troedel, the leader of the West Black Student Union, was also involved on stage during the event for the second time this year. He valued the lasting impact of the celebration. 

“This event goes against what our social norms are set as of right now surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion,” he said. “This empowers our youth to be able to go against these norms for the common good of their communities.”

He wants to make sure to highlight the day’s significance with several questions that can be applied to everyone’s life.

“How can I celebrate the different cultures of my friends, how can I include them and make sure their cultural or racial differences don’t impact their ability to participate in the things that I can?” he said.

Considering the event as a whole, the underlying theme was that of unity. 

“Sometimes people feel like ‘I shouldn’t speak out because it’s not my problem,’” Thomas said. “We’re all in this together, just living together as a community, and supporting one another.”

Amel focused on how the overall experience encourages unity just as Dr. King had.

“An important teaching that I really enjoy from him is the point that hate can not drive off hate, only love can do that,” he said, “You can’t instill hate into young minds and expect the world to be a better place.”

Miller felt that everyone should feel a sense of responsibility towards events like these.

“I believe I’m supposed to show up for students, staff, and the community,” he said. “We have to make sure history isn’t lost and that we continue to highlight the people that made it possible for us all to be situated the way we are.”

Troedel urged those who didn’t come this year to consider the importance and benefit of attending.

“The biggest takeaway is that we’re a community. We’re coming together slowly, making that inevitable progress towards the dream that Dr. King had,” he said. 

Coleman concluded the event on a positive note for the future.

“Many more places could be made brighter when communities come together in agreement that peace, injustice and inequality still matters,” he said. “It doesn’t just happen automatically because we want it to. It happens when we put our efforts and our energy toward that happening.”

by Samreen Chahal

Published February 9, 2026

Oshkosh West Index Volume 122 Issue IV