Highland View ES-The Construction of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, DC
Keeping the Dream Alive
On February 29th, the members of the Young Black Men with Promise mentoring program were a captivated audience as they listened to a remarkable presentation by Ms. Lisa Anders, senior project manager of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C. She started this project from the client’s request that the memorial convey Dr. King’s message of love, justice, democracy and hope.
 The first stage of construction |
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Throughout her presentation, Ms. Anders shared the complexity of the project that began with the selection of stone and working with artisans in China, constructing the sculpture and then disassembling it and transferring the art work and materials to Baltimore, and supervising the project to its completion in Washington, DC. As she described the tradesmen and the variety of professionals contracted to work on the memorial, she identified the areas of study they were required to learn and discussed their high level of expertise.
Ms. Anders encouraged the youngsters to cultivate good study habits in elementary school, stay focused and do their best to obtain good grades throughout their schooling, develop their interests, and to use their creativity. She advised students who were primarily interested in the arts to pursue them because the arts are very important and can also be incorporated into many fields of study.
Ms. Anders also emphasized the importance of self-advocacy and communicating one’s interests to teachers or to individuals in their area of interest. She further explained that individuals who did well academically and developed their personal interests were inclined to be more creative. She encouraged the young men to pursue fields that they are truly passionate about.
When one of the mentors asked Ms. Anders what she was passionate about, she recalled her elementary school days and shared that she knew about law and medicine, but she didn’t know about engineering. She said, “I liked math, science and art and I did well.” It was her hobby, her passion to build rockets that placed her on the path to becoming a civil engineer. During the summer prior to beginning Howard University, Ms. Anders remembered reading the course catalogue and becoming interested in the field of civil engineering because it would enable her to pursue her interest in designing and building complex projects.
At the end of the presentation, the audience was clearly impressed with Ms. Anders’ masterfully orchestrated efforts and talent as the senior project manager of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial.
“It was inspiring!” remarked Jonathan, a fifth grade participant in the program, who is now considering becoming a civil engineer.
We extend our special thanks to Ms. Anders for sharing her photographs for this article.