Living the dream

Like many others attending the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Gospel Concert Sunday, Laura Wright brought money with her to donate to the fund at the end of the evening.

For Wright, 26, giving to this charity held special meaning, since she would be giving back to the very scholarship fund that made it possible for her to finish her college studies just a few years ago.

Wright, who graduated from UC Irvine with a degree in engineering in 2004, now runs her own marketing firm in North Hollywood. She was glad to give to the fund that helped students like her through those critical times.

“It helped me beyond buying Top Ramen,” she said. “It really was hard to pull through that major.” In looking back at her transcripts, Wright found she earned a 3.4 grade-point average during that time — one of her more impressive quarters, she said.

“We’re beginning to see some of the fruits of our labor,” concert chairman Ron Guyer said, referring to Wright and other scholarship winners who have gone on to prominent careers after college. “They actually become donors to those charities.”

The event, now in its eighth year, has grown tremendously, Guyer said.

The inside of the Irvine Barclay Theatre was packed by 4:30 p.m. when the concert began, with scores of people waiting outside the free event to be squeezed into whatever seats could be found.

“We had to turn away [about] 100 people,” Guyer said, adding that some still hopeful to find an empty seat waited even after most were turned away.

The annual event began as a small church gathering. It then added a luncheon, and eventually a full-sized gospel concert, which draws audiences from all over the surrounding area. “We have really drawn everyone in from the local four or five counties,” co-founder Bobby MacDonald said.

In attendance Sunday evening were representatives from Southern California Edison; Donald Craig, president of the Orange County National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, and other community members in support of the ideas begun years ago by King.

It is not so much about celebrating the man, Martin Luther King Jr., as it is about honoring what he stood for and moving forward in that frame of thinking, event organizers said.

The civil rights movement has changed a bit since King, scholarship co-founder Rev. Mark Whitlock said.

“It’s moved from the streets to the boardroom,” he said. “It’s about economic rights, offering jobs. It’s about home ownership, making sure we level out the economic playing field.

“It’s about creating opportunity.”

“Race isn’t on the [scholarship] application,” Guyer said. “We do focus our attention on those people who are under-represented at the colleges, who are probably not going to get a scholarship somewhere else.”

This fund fills the void for students who work hard, but maybe have a B or C average instead of all A’s, Guyer said.

“Demographics in college are not the same as they are out there [in the rest of the world],” Guyer said. “If we can level those percentages out, it helps all of society benefit.”

Over the years the scholarship has raised more than $75,000 for these college hopefuls, Guyers said.

Also in attendance was the UCI chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Wright’s old sorority, which gave a performance in “stepping” — a type of dance involving choreographed stomps, claps and chants — with the men of Alpha Phi Alpha, the fraternity once attended by King. The group received a standing ovation after their rhythmic and lively performance.

“I thank all those [that gave] so that I could achieve my dream,” Wright said.