![\"Jonelle](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/2025-01-31_MLKLivingLegacyConvocation-5-300x200.jpg\")
The convocation has grown since last year, with a full awardee selection committee, more submitted nominations, and a ceremony in a bigger space with a pre-event reception.<\/p>\n
Jonelle Reynolds, Director of Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives, served as co-chair of the awardee selection committee and emcee for the evening.<\/p>\n
Reynolds says she hoped the event would give attendees a chance to breathe and to take a break from stressful news around the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnxiety, fear, frustration, anger, hopelessness \u2013 those are negative feelings that have been impacting some of our communities,\u201d she says. \u201cThis is really an opportunity for people to put all of that aside and just be present in the room with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
Guest poet Nadia Sims performed a new piece, \u201cReclaiming My Slice,\u201d that was inspired by her wanting to live and prosper freely as a Black woman and as an American, she says.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to get to a place where being American is enough to secure and pursue happiness and liberty and life,\u201d Sims says. \u201cMartin Luther King had a dream and that is <\/em>my dream \u2013 to just do what I need to do as a citizen and have that be enough.\u201d<\/p>\n After recipients received their awards, Voices of Freedom took the stage and brought energy to the audience. Directed by Lisa Clayton, attendees united with the voices on stage as a giant choir with all voices tuned in the right key.<\/p>\n \u201cI am excited that Voices of Freedom was asked to honor the memory and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Our amazing students shared their melodious voices to help create an incredible night,\u201d Clayton says.<\/p>\n The highlight of the evening was Todd Dulaney\u2019s performance. He performed many of his gospel hits and had everyone in the Jorgensen Center on their feet dancing and singing along. Members of Voices of Freedom even had the opportunity to display their vocal talent when several members had solo moments during Dulaney\u2019s set.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m so glad I came,\u201d one smiling audience member said. \u201cIt really was great way to end the week and it way good way to kick off Black History Month.\u201d<\/p>\n Award winners included a mix of students, staff & faculty, alumni, and community members: Based on the crowd\u2019s response, the celebration will continue to grow and be a highlight for many.<\/p>\n \u201cI want it to be not just something that people are excited about in the UConn community but the entire Connecticut community,\u201d Reynolds says.\u201d \u201cMy hope is that five years from now it\u2019s even bigger and the Jorgensen Center will be packed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The event featured performances by the Voices of Freedom Gospel Choir and Grammy-nominated Artist Todd Dulaney<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":153,"featured_media":225251,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2275,1711,2460,2461,2235,2306],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2349],"class_list":["post-225249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-affairs","category-arts-culture","category-faculty","category-staff","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-voices"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-29 05:33:11","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/153"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225249"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":225254,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225249\/revisions\/225254"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/225251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225249"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=225249"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=225249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Vice](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/2025-01-31_MLKLivingLegacyConvocation-7-300x200.jpg\")
\nUndergraduate Student: Andy Zhang
\nGraduate Student: Adanma Akoma
\nFaculty: Kate Capshaw
\nStaff: Alexis Monteiro
\nTeam: CAHNR Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice Strategic Vision Implementation Committee
\nAlum: N. Chineye (Chi) Anako
\nCommunity Member: Nelson Merchan<\/p>\n