As part of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service on Monday, Jan. 15, UWM students, faculty, staff, alumni and family members gave back to the community. They were just some of the more than 500 volunteers at Milwaukee\u2019s South Division High School who painted murals to inspire the students.<\/p>\n
On the third Monday in January, people across the U.S participate in volunteer activities as part of the Day of Service. In Milwaukee, City Year organizes events that draw volunteers from local schools, nonprofits and businesses.<\/p>\n\n
For the past eight years, UWM\u2019s Center for Community-Based Learning, Leadership, and Research has recruited people for the day. The UWM Alumni Community Engagement program has also recruited volunteers for three years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a great opportunity to participate in a day that means so much to so many people,\u201d said UWM alumna Tanya Wiedenhoeft, who was participating in the day of service for the first time. \u201cI\u2019m really happy to be a part of something bigger, rather than taking the day off and staying home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wiedenhoeft participated with her son and daughter. She helped paint a mural of the Egyptian pyramids. Other volunteers painted murals of the Seven Wonders of the World, as well as book covers of \u201cThe Great Gatsby\u201d and \u201cTo Kill a Mockingbird.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe students get to see the things they\u2019re learning about when they walk through the hallways,\u201d said Patricia Patterson, a UWM alumna who has volunteered for the past three years said. \u201cThis day celebrates the life of Martin Luther King Jr., but it also supports schools and education in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Alumni Community Engagement program organizes and participates in service projects year-round. The program is currently planning a project for Earth Day 2018.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rather than sit back and relax, several members of the UWM community spent the Martin Luther King Day Jr. of Service the way it was intended\u00a0\u2014\u00a0by serving others.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40008,"featured_media":54658,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174,200],"tags":[249],"section":[122],"display_categories":[],"related-coverage":[260],"uwmnews-feed":[167],"class_list":["post-54636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-news-in-brief","tag-community-engagement","section-campus-community","related-coverage-community-engagement","uwmnews-feed-alumni-association"],"yoast_head":"\n