Detroit Alphas, Hosted an Inaugural College Fair to Honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

As a nation, we observed the 39th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. A day that should remind us all, of our responsibilities in life. Not only to celebrate Dr. King's

legacy but, to live it every day by standing up for justice, equality, and opportunity for all. That is exactly what members of the Detroit Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., did

Saturday.

These men celebrated Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Day and weekend with a long list of community service projects. Education was the forefront and this group of men, in

case you have never heard of them, are leaders throughout the communities of Detroit and Metro Detroit. The importance of creating a path and a mindset that encourages students to excel in all that they do, is critically in 2025. Being able to create paths and mindsets that encourages the students to be excel in all they do. It continues beyond grades, K-12.

"The Brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., Gamma Lambda Chapter Presents College Fair" was held on Jan 18 th from 9am-1pm at 1 Ford Place, Detroit, MI on the

campus of Henry Ford Health. Upon entering, parents, students and guest were greeted by various members of the fraternity, along with being welcomed with breakfast and a welcome speech given by the 50 th President of the Detroit Gamma Lambda chapter, Mr. Harry C.Todd. "Education is just not a tool, it's your passport to innovation, progress and freedom. To the high school students here, I want you to know that your journey, your dreams and your passions matter...".

According to students and parents, one of the things that made this event different from others, were various components that were offered to the entire family, such as the

break-out sessions that spoke on ways to find and earn money to attend college for free!

Represented at the college fair were the following schools: Eastern Michigan, Michigan State, Saginaw Valley State, Western Michigan and the University of Michigan. HBCUs like Tennessee State, Howard University and Wilberforce University were present, including the Army, Navy and Automation Workz, a career tech certification training program.

The Telegram News spoke with two committee members and organizer, Clifton Clarke III and Sterling Littlejohn. Clarke III, when asked, "What was the goal in mind during the planning of this event", he replied by saying, "What makes this event special is that we are going through the full lifecycle of college, if you want to go! So, we work with them and our other groups on getting them ready for high school and college and by preparing them.

We give them ACT/SAT prep, we show them how to work on the essays and how to apply. Then once they have applied, we bring a resource fair to give them exposure to that particular college and possibly other choices. Once you are down to 2 to 5 choices, now it's time to get it paid for, that's when we bring in Gwen."

This is community service, this is what MLK Day stood for, caring about your community and striving to make it better, one step, one person, one student, or thought at a time. VP Harvey M. Christian of the Detroit Alphas, shared with us how involved their organization and chapter has been and continues to be within the city of Detroit. "I want topaint the larger picture if I could, the work we are doing here at Gamma Lambda, doesn't start at college and it doesn't start in high school. We have deliberately built relationships with K-8 schools and high schools in the city of Detroit."

The Lackey family, attended with their son, Mykell Lackey Jr., River Rouge High

School senior. Mr. Mykell Lackey Sr., and Tanay his mom, expressed overall that this day, was important to them for the future of their son's continuation of education. Dad said, "The importance of me being here as a black man is positive reinforcement, it's leadership and its development for him, where I didn't have this opportunity..." Mom thoughts were, that the speaker Gwen Thomas was phenomenal. She continued by saying, "Her son got thousands

of dollars to go to school totally free. That was very inspiring to me, my favorite part."

When Mykell Jr., was asked about his takeaways for the day, he had an interesting perspective for a 17-year-old. "My attitude, I feel like when I woke up today, I wasn't really in the mood but this is for me, this is for my future and I am supposed to take this information...I actually want to apply to The University of Michigan and major in Sports

Medicine."

Sterling Littlejohn, committee chair of, Go-to-High School, Go-to-College, initiative, committee chair, said, "I think with seeing the engagement from the kids, is very important. I could tell in the scholarship break-out session that parents and kids were excited about learning ways of how to get scholarships...To be able to have programs like this, it's very essential because it shows that, we as Alpha Men, we are going to support these youth."

As you can see, this inaugural event was a success. There were more than 300 individuals that signed up. Next year, according to members of the Detroit Alphas, they are

expecting for this career fair to double in numbers of attendees and they will then need a bigger space.

Parents and Students, Graduate 313 were onsite as well. Known as Detroit College Access Network, they are an established community hub model for new programming to

support college and career access and success.

For information about graduate 313, visit http://www.detroitcan.org.

For more information about the Detroit chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., visit, http://www.detroitalphas.org