Davis County School District official urges daily acts of service during Martin Luther King Day season

John Zurbach, assistant superintendent for the Davis County School District, urged staff and students to turn the district’s belonging-and-inclusion initiatives into daily acts of service during the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday season.

Zurbach said the district’s work on belonging and inclusion can become more than policies and procedures when it is expressed through simple acts of kindness. “What it's really about is being kind to one another,” he said, adding that making someone else feel valued “is one of the most precious commodities.”

Zurbach cited Martin Luther King Jr.’s question — “life's most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others?” — and said answering that question daily is a measure of success. He also quoted Mahatma Gandhi: “the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others,” and referenced Maya Angelou’s idea of remembering those who “brought rainbows to those clouds” as examples to emulate.

The assistant superintendent framed those quotations as guidance for the district’s belonging work, saying the goal is that “everyone matters” and that the district’s “everyone focus” encourages small, everyday efforts that create inclusion. He repeated that kindness, practiced daily, is the foundation of belonging in schools.

Zurbach asked listeners to consider practical acts: bringing a smile or lightening someone’s day, and to “lose yourself in the service of others” so that each day can be judged by what someone did for others. He closed by urging the district community to seek ways throughout the year to bring “rainbows” to others’ “clouds.”