On Jan. 18, University students, staff and other faculty members participated in the ninth annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service.

Last year, 721 volunteers went out to 45 challenge sites and completed 2,648 hours of service, according to the University’s MLK Jr. Service Learning website. This year, 715 people volunteered and 1,909 service hours were completed.

Last year the day included six hours of service, while this year had three hours of service.

“It’s become a really great tradition. It’s something I hear from a lot of students that it’s something they look forward to every year … It’s a good way for everyone to come together and talk about MLK’s legacy and do some service,” Maggie Nowicki, the assistant director of co-curricular programs in the Office of Service Learning, said.

Nowicki said this year is more of a focus on academic partnerships, with groups that are volunteering going to places that are more in line with what the group does, such as the Arts Village being paired with the arts commission.

The morning kicked off with a breakfast provided by the University and guest speakers, including University President Dr. Mary Ellen Mazey, who reminded the volunteers that today was a day on instead of a day off. In her speech, she reflected on the work that Martin Luther King Jr. did in his lifetime and the work that people continue on today in his name.

Bowling Green Mayor Richard Edwards also spoke, highlighting service that the Bowling Green community has done, including being one of five cities in the United States to be a gold star city for their work with the Not In Our Town campaign.

The Rev. Darvin A. Adams gave the keynote speech, reminding students of what Martin Luther King Jr. worked for and how it’s still being applied today.

“King saw Black Lives Matter as a form of hope,” Adams said in his speech as volunteers.

Third year student Catheline Longoria-Perez volunteered at the Black Swamp Conservancy and found the events in the opening ceremony well done.

“The Voices of BG was really powerful … that choir was just amazing. The keynote was really nice also. But what really stuck out to me were the three (spoken word) performers,” Longoria-Perez said. “That one could really impact people and could feel his (Devin Smith’s) emotion.”

After the speech, volunteers got on buses and went out to the various service sites.

Second year graduate student Alex Meaux volunteered at Heritage Corner Heath Care, where he and others played for residents and taught them about the different woodwind instruments. He enjoyed getting to talk to the people at Heritage.

“The best part of my day was getting to talk to them afterwards, especially the ones that weren’t as forthcoming with their engagement. Once you actually showed interest, they really opened up a lot,” Meaux said.

Many people said today helped them remember what the day of service was actually about and the importance of working with community partners.

Junior Alyssa Davidson volunteered at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church and cleaned up Sunday school rooms and cleaned where church services are held.

“They (community partners) don’t always get the time to clean it while they need to and don’t always have enough people to help them. It was nice to be able to help them,” Davidson said.

Once the groups returned from volunteering, members of the Office of Service Learning laid out reflection questions for the groups to answer. Ambassadors from the Office of Multicultural Affairs talked about philanthropy and challenged the volunteers to make everyday a day-on and gave them ways they can serve, including signing petitions, demonstrating and boycotting, among other things.

To wrap up the event, representatives from Black Student Union and Latino Student Union played Martin Luther King Jr. trivia to test people’s knowledge.

To see Instagram and Twitter pictures from the different service sites, search #BGMLK2016