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Santa Barbara, CA. (December 2025) – Each year since 2020, The Riviera Ridge School has invited students to reflect upon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy in the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Committee Writing Contest. This year, a record number of ten Riviera Ridge School students will be recognized for their thoughtful writing honoring Dr. King at the 18th annual celebration at the Arlington Theater on Monday, January 19.
As part of the Riviera Ridge School’s Kaleidoscope Program, which explores service learning, ethical leadership, and the philosophy and understanding of world religions, students from grades 4-8 take part in this contest open to students throughout SB County. The Committee asks them to think about a specific quote and they can choose to respond with a poem or an essay. This year’s theme was based on Dr. King’s words concerning leadership: “We need leaders not in love with money, but in love with justice; not in love with publicity, but in love with humanity.”-August 11, 1956.
“The primary goal of this learning initiative is to connect the Kaleidoscope 4-8 classrooms in engaging with the Santa Barbara community,” Riviera Ridge’s JK-8th Grade Kaleidoscope Specialist, Kari Eiler, said. “It also helps them to think deeply about how Dr. King’s teachings speak to them personally and how they can be applied to our world today.”
Students have consistently received recognition for their entries into the MLKSB Foundation’s Poetry and Essay Award Celebration. This year, ten students will read their original poems and essays honoring Dr. King at the Arlington event.
“Providing opportunities for young people’s voices to be centered, such as the Martin Luther King Jr. writing contest, creates space for students to share their perspectives,” Eiler said. “It also motivates young people to engage with their communities locally and globally.”
Eiler helped pioneer the Riviera Ridge School’s Kaleidoscope program, in collaboration with UCSB’s Religious Studies faculty, more than a decade ago. This curriculum gives students from Junior Kindergarten to 8th grade the chance to study the traditions and values of world religions and diverse cultures through a global and unifying perspective.
“The Riviera Ridge School’s core values of ethical responsibility, kindness, diversity, creativity, and resilience, are all honed in this wonderful opportunity our Kaleidoscope program and the Santa Barbara community provides,” Head of School Chris Broderick said. “When students are inspired by Dr. King’s profound words on social justice, they are encouraged to carry out our school’s mission of ‘purpose beyond self’ in a way that feels true and alive for them.”
The 19th Annual Holiday Celebration for Martin Luther King, Jr. will take place on Monday, January 19. A morning program will be held at De La Guerra Plaza from 9:00a.m. – 10:00a.m. with a 10:00a.m. Unity March up State Street. The event culminates with the MLKSB Program at the Arlington Theater from 11:00a.m. – 12:30p.m. The Celebration is free and open to all.
At Riviera Ridge, we provide student-centered, individualized learning in a joyful and nurturing community, inspiring academic excellence and valuing difference. The educational vision for each Riviera Ridge graduate is to empower individual potential, inspire purpose beyond self, and cultivate social responsibility as they prepare for high school and beyond.
For more information, email info@rivieraridge.org or call 805-569-1811 ext. 131.
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