The Coretta Scott King Center (CSKC) is one of Antioch College’s learning hubs that was established in 2005, in the honor of Coretta Scott King and her activism for civil rights. I chose the CSKC for my second CO-OP and was assigned the position of an Events Coordinator. With the help of Queen Zabriskie, my daily tasks consisted of supporting events, sending out emails, cleaning the center, and attending meetings.
As a sociology major, I thrive off of learning about the social dynamics between communities, not just to feed my hunger for knowledge, but help raise awareness about social issues that many communities are struggling with on both macro and micro levels. At the center, I’ve witnessed and experienced the steps and effort that go into making events first-hand, and because of that, those experiences not only helped me explore and figure out what I want to do in order to pursue social justice advocacy, but they also helped me to gain a new perspective when it comes to organizing community events that push for that activism.
With these experiences, I am developing more communication, organization, leadership, and networking skills. However, a major lesson that I’ve learned while co-oping at the CSKC is that you must find a way to keep yourself afloat and focused as you start to feel the burn-out of work, because you can’t expect yourself to help others if you aren’t in a good condition yourself. Being at the CSKC has given me the opportunity to see how others care for each other and themselves,
Studying sociology while taking this CO-OP has allowed me to make a direct, positive impact within the communities that I am a part of and engage with, while also expanding my understanding of how communities shape the social practices and choices of individuals, and I am glad to have been able to contribute to the CSKC’s mission to transform the lives of people by centering various social issues around race, gender, and class.
