3 students announced as winners of MLK student Voices award

by Katie Spiropoulos Assistant News Editor

Three Tufts students were presented with the MLK Student Voices Award at this year’s annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration. Andrew Harris, who submitted photography; Marsha Germain, who submitted poetry; and Ayomide Oloyede, who submitted a spoken poem, received this year’s award.

Applicants were asked to respond to the question, “What does love and creativity look like for you in the service of action for love and justice?” Winners were chosen based on their piece’s organization, originality, creativity, clarity and connection to this year’s theme.

The award committee sought to lift up student voices through works including essays, poems, songs, art, spoken word and other kinds of performances. University Chaplain Rev. Elyse Nelson Winger described the composition of the selection committee.

“Members of the MLK Day of Celebration committee, composed of staff from the University

Chaplaincy, the Africana Center, Tisch College for Civic Life, and the GLADC, were on the selection committee,” Nelson Winger wrote in an email to the Daily.

Nelson Winger explained that the prompt for this year’s student voices award was inspired by the MLK Day of Celebration theme, “We Don’t Have Much Time: Raising Consciousness and Building the Future Now.”

Nelson Winger wrote that the theme originated from an excerpt from King’s book “The Trumpet of Conscience,” which stated, “But we do not have much time. The revolutionary spirit is already world-wide. If the anger of the peoples of the world at the injustice of things is to be channeled into a revolution of love and creativity, we must begin now to work, urgently, with all peoples to shape a new world.”

She added that this year’s winners stood out for their compelling creative work.

“Each winner submitted beautiful and powerful work as a response to our prompt,” Nelson