Central College will begin the Spring 2022 semester by honoring the spirit and work of Martin Luther King, Jr. as students return to campus Monday.

Classes are not in session on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as they have been in years past. The day will instead be filled with educational opportunities for students and faculty. Students will participate in service projects, take training to become mentors in violence prevention and/or choose from many different academic seminars on racial justice, bias, inequality and more.

Mike Regan Jr. will deliver a keynote address titled “The Journey Continues: Athlete Activism and the Fight for Social Justice.” Regan is an interdisciplinary lecturer and scholar, serving as an adjunct professor in the Departments of Kinesiology and Sociology at California State University, East Bay.

The day will conclude with a vigil at the Peace Pole located on south Geisler lawn. The pole, installed in 2006, is a hand-crafted monument that displays the message “May Peace Prevail on Earth.”

Dr. King famously visited Pella and the Central College campus in 1967 — 55 years ago in March, addressed an audience of 1,300 in the college gymnasium after meeting with then-Central President Don Lubbers and other local residents.