WSU hosts The Longest Table in celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. and diversity

Multiple campus organizations pulled together to host the WSU version of The Longest Table, a meal open to the public to talk about diversity and community service, on Monday, Jan. 16 in the Student Union Apollo Room.

The Longest Table featured a free meal of salad, soup, drinks and dessert, speakers talking about community service and information on getting involved in the community. It was sponsored by The Bolinga Black Cultural Resource Center, Counselling and Wellness Services, The Office of LGBTQA Affairs and The Office of Student Activities.

Place mats provided at each seat of the table had questions to create conversation about issues facing the community and encourage strangers to get to know more about each other. Also at each table was a timeline of a particular year in King’s life with facts about his biography.

The “Spark” speakers were Chinonye Chukwu, Associate Professor of Motion Pictures, and Dr. Christa Agiro, Associate Professor and Co-Director for the Language Arts Program. Chukwu spoke on her Pens to Pictures program in which she helped incarcerated women create films and Agiro spoke on the importance for community service.

Some students found common ground with the speakers and felt inspired by their community efforts.

“I really enjoyed seeing all the diversity at this table and getting to hear people in the community that are making a difference,” Kimberly Dove, freshman Nursing major said. “Listening to [Chukwu] speak and hearing about what she is doing in correctional facilities is really inspiring. It hits close to home because my grandmother did something similar, but didn’t apply film-making to it.”

“It was great. It was a good time for people to get together from different backgrounds and enjoy dinner,” Jasmine Foster, junior Organizational Leadership major said. “One of my favorite parts was hearing about how to get involved with helping the elderly, because I have a heart for helping them and getting them to use their skills to help other students and fight off depression.”