New year,
same family.
Happy New Year, KSU TRIO Family!
As the new year begins, we would just like to say that we are so grateful for you all. This upcoming year will be full of changes, and one of the things we can count on is how everyone at KSU TRIO will make this time enjoyable, regardless of where we spend it!
You all have come so far to be here in 2022, and even though we miss seeing you in person terribly, we look forward to hopefully seeing you more this year. Thank you so much for all the hard work you put in last year, and you are building skills that you will use for the rest of your lives. Here's to a better 2022!
The New Year around the world
New Year traditions vary from culture to culture. This year, we want to know yours! This month's photo challenge is to submit a picture of your New Year's Resolutions, New Year's celebration, or one of your family's traditions! You can submit the photo on instagram using the hashtag #ksutriotogether or send to any of your KSU TRIO staff.
To give you some ideas, here are some of the ways different cultures celebrate the New Year!
1. In Spain, people eat exactly 12 grapes at midnight to bring in the new year!
2. In Brazil, people flock to the ocean on New Year’s Day to make offerings of white flowers to Yemoja to elicit her blessings for the year to come.
3. In Japan, people welcome the new year with a bowl of soba noodles in a ritual known as toshikoshi soba, or year-crossing noodles.
4. In Turkey, it's considered good luck to sprinkle salt on your doorstep as soon as the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Day.
5. In Scotland, the celebration starts the day before January 1, also known as Hogmanay. According to the tradition of First Footing, the first person who crosses through the threshold of a home after midnight should be a dark-haired man to have good luck in the coming year.
6. In the American South, it is traditional to eat black eyed peas (coins), collard greens (paper money), and cornbread (gold) to bring luck and money in the new year.
7. The resolution you just made for the new year may seem pretty recent to you, but the tradition of making resolutions as the calendar changes is actually pretty old. Historians believe that Babylonians — one of the first cultures to actually celebrate the changing of the year — made promises to pay debts or return borrowed objects.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Each year on the third Monday of January, our nation observes the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This month, KSU TRIO would like to take this time to celebrate the impact of Dr. King's legacy and reflect on the work that still needs to be done for true justice and equality.
"INJUSTICE ANYWHERE IS A THREAT TO JUSTICE EVERYWHERE." - DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
Dr. King's legacy as a preacher and activist who helped lead American Civil Rights Movement was integral in fixing a major wrong in the history of the United States. It is because of people like Dr. King we know that we leave a lasting impact on our communities. What do you want your legacy to be?
"WE MUST USE TIME CREATIVELY, IN THE KNOWLEDGE THAT THE TIME IS ALWAYS RIPE TO DO RIGHT." - DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
This year, the family of Martin Luther King Jr. is calling for "no celebration" of MLK Day without the passage of voting rights legislation, calling the President and Congress to act on federal voting rights bills that have stalled in Congress. Arndrea Waters King said "If we're really talking about celebrating the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., voting rights was a cornerstone of his legacy... We cannot simply in good faith celebrate him or celebrate that legacy with this current attack on access to the ballot box." To read more about the King Family's statement, visit here.