Servant leadership is the ability to influence others for the greater good and is an ability of which everyone can possess and succeed, through words and presence.
So said Tom Thibodeau, a well-known servant leadership educator and keynote speaker for Gateway Technical College’s 21st Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration Monday in the Madrigrano Auditorium of the college’s Conference Center on its Kenosha Campus.
“Everybody can be great because everybody can serve,” said Thibodeau. “All work has dignity … and all of our lives are predicated on the service of others.
“That’s what we are celebrating today – service is love made visible.”
Thibodeau is the chairman of the master’s degree Servant Leadership program at Viterbo University in La Crosse, one of only two master’s-level servant leadership programs in the country.
At the ceremony, Gateway also honored this year’s Humanitarians, Beverly Hicks, Racine; Kam Buhler, Franksville; and a class of Harborside Academy students, Kenosha.
These individuals are recognized for their humanitarian contributions to society in his or her school, business or profession, as well as their dedication to volunteerism or philanthropic life’s work.
Among other work, Hicks has been a longtime life member of the Racine Branch NAACP, serving on its executive committee for many years; served on the NAACP Wisconsin State Conference of Branches; has received the YMCA’s Corrine Owens Award; the YMCA Women of Distinction Award; William Horlick High School Graduate of Distinction Award; community service award for Wayman Church; received the Insider Woman of the Year Award; is involved with Harvest Outreach and continues to work with youth in Racine.
Her award nominator says Hicks “is truly a drum major for justice in the Racine/Kenosha area.”
Buhler, born and raised in Hong Kong, has done much to reach out to immigrants and foreign exchange students to help them succeed in college and life. She has sponsored several scholarships, visits the sick and serves as a counselor to an area jail.
Her award nominator says Buhler’s “message to young people is: ‘With hard work you can do it – but you must care for others.’”
Students from a Harborside classroom received the award for showing selfless service to others by ensuring all students were able to participate in a major class activity. They embraced inclusiveness so that one student had the same opportunity as others to participate – and, in doing so, continued the legacy of Dr. King.
A video of their stories can be found at: http://goo.gl/u6K7Pu
The theme for this year’s celebration was: Care. Serve. Act.
The celebration concluded with the second annual education summit, which focused on mentoring in Southeastern Wisconsin.
The summit included 20 leaders from mentoring programs across the Gateway Technical College District of Racine, Kenosha and Walworth counties, gathered to determine the most important components of mentoring young people today – and what’s needed to move that effort to the next level.
This is the second year Gateway has held an educational summit in conjunction with its Dr. King celebration. At last year’s event, many leaders mentioned the power of mentoring programs – and the need to build and support those programs – that Gateway chose to make it the focus of this year’s summit.
The summit will act as a catalyst to continue bringing educational leaders in Southeastern Wisconsin together in the future to help develop and strengthen mentor efforts.
One such effort has already taken hold, as Gateway and UW-Parkside announced they will partner to support mentoring programs and expand the Mentor KR program into Walworth County to form Mentor Southeast Wisconsin.
For further questions about the celebration, please contact Zina Haywood at (262) 564-3104.