Pockets of people, most of them in their early teens, gathered around the steps of Old Main yesterday afternoon to discuss the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and join in a celebratory march.

Focusing on the theme of "A Single Garment of Destiny," which is a metaphor King used for the different people represented within the United States, essay contest winners from area school districts read their work before the crowd.

High school and middle school students from grades 7 to 10 were bused in from Bald Eagle, Bellefonte, Penns Valley and State College Area School Districts to join in the festivities.

Park Forest Middle School seventh grader Rohit Ananth wrote about the ideal of a single garment of destiny. He wrote, "It is unrealistic to think that our country is like a perfectly woven garment. There are many loose threads."

Ananth said he thought the topic was important and said he spent time researching it. At first he had a difficult time understanding King's speech, but after thinking about it, he was able to extract a lot from the ideas.

"I think he's important to all of us; because of him we're more tolerant of others," he said.

Another student, Hannah Inglesby from an eighth grade class at Bald Eagle Area High School, wrote, "Martin Luther King Jr. knew that the struggle he faced would make the world better for my generation."

She felt honored to be invited to read her essay at the march, but she would have liked to read it during King's time, she said.

She also learned a lot from listening to the other essays that were read yesterday: "They said some things I didn't think of," she said.

Mary Beth Crago, a seventh grade social studies teacher at Bald Eagle Area High School, said the students were excited about coming. They were curious about what to expect, she added.

Crago was in charge of choosing which 250-word essays would be the winners of the contest for her school. She said she knew that Inglesby's and Amanda Reese's essays would be read on the steps of Old Main as soon as she read them.

"The two that were read were really outstanding," Crago said.

After the essay readings, State College Mayor Bill Welch and others talked about how civil rights demonstrators were taught to march, enduring harsh language and physical violence in the 1960s.

Tineke Cunning, chair of the Office of Undergraduate Education team that organized the event, told the crowd to march "peacefully, openly and cheerfully," in the manner King taught his followers.

The group proceeded from the Old Main lawn to College Avenue, with a line of people, in pairs, stretching about one and a half city blocks long, ending at the HUB-Robeson Center.

The group reconvened in Heritage Hall, where members listened to the soulful music of Essence of Praise, a choir from the Unity Church of Jesus Christ.

Angelique Bacon-Woodard, in the Office of Undergraduate Education, said she was glad the area school districts were able to add the hands-on experience to their curriculum. "They thought it was a great way to come together and learn some more," she said.