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Students teach the teachers at MLK Jr. Dinner hosted by DMC

By Rylee Carrillo-Wagner ’19

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On Saturday, Jan. 28, students, faculty and staff joined together in the Fillus Events Barn for a dinner honoring Martin Luther King Jr. The event did not stop with the meal. A collaborative effort between Professor Margo Okazawa-Rey and Director of Opportunity Programs and Interim Director of Diversity and Inclusion Phyllis Breland, hosted by the Days-Massolo Center, this MLK Jr. dinner had a second component to it, called “Teaching the Teachers.” Okazawa-Rey explains, “Intergenerational dialogues and learning were an important strand in the 1960s ’70s Civil Rights movement: Since then we have strayed a bit, especially because of age-segregation. My goal is for us to reconnect intergenerationally—where we are are engaging in genuine, reciprocal teaching and learning, talking and listening.” So after dinner, the group was split into two groups. One group learned slang words while the other learned new dance moves. Then the two groups switched. At the end, everyone joined back together to share their new knowledge.
Okazawa-Rey spoke to the thought behind the creation of the event, noting, “The idea came to me when I realized how out of touch I was with popular youth culture, even though I’m teaching and learning with 18 to 22-year-olds! Another thought was that we, faculty, get to see our students mostly unidimensionally, usually in our classes, and know very little about who they are outside class: their leisurely activities, how they talk with one another in casual conversation, the latest social media and dances and music. As a way to get to know my students better, to learn a part of their culture as youth, and to be able to learn from them, the idea of Teach the Teachers emerged. Of course, I checked out the idea with colleagues and students, at Hamilton and beyond, who all seemed to light up at the idea.”
And upon reflection, many participants showed a similar appreciation for the event. Jeff McArn commented, “It was a great way to gather the community together, learn some dance moves together and pick up some slang from the NYC boroughs. It’s an awesomely interactive event that helps us build community, which is something we desperately need to do more of at Hamilton College. There are lots of opportunities for friend groups, interest groups, like-minded identity collectives to be together.” Nancy Thompson, Vice President and Dean of Students, agreed, saying “I really enjoyed the dinner on Saturday. I had a chance to meet new people, students and faculty, over a lovely dinner with good conversation. I learned some new dance moves and vocabulary and laughed a great deal in the process. It was a great night. I hope we’ll do more events like this in the future,” to which student Caroline Kreidberg ’17 added, “I’m grateful to the students who were kind and generous enough to volunteer their time to ‘teach the teachers’ and other students. Overall, it was certainly a unique event idea,” and Polly Bruce ’17 mentioned, “I really enjoyed the experience — I wasn’t sure what the entire program would entail, but I was pleasantly surprised that it was able to incorporate everything from dialogue to dancing to connecting via social media.  I felt that it was very important to bring together professors and students in a casual setting such as this and hope there will be more events like this one in the future!”
To the hosts, collaborators and participants, this fun night clearly had a deeper purpose. Okazawa-Rey reflects on its impact in relation to a large political scope, saying, “These are very painful and some horrific political times. The event was an example of collective self-care where we could come together to laugh and play.” McArn re-emphasizes Hamilton’s need for a strengthened sense of community, stating, “Dr. King stood for a lot of things, but nothing was a higher priority for him than the vision of the ‘beloved community,’ an intentional coming together in spite of, and because of, significant differences. It would be good for our Hamilton community to commit ourselves to this core value of the beloved community, and work on creating an environment of trust among us.”

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