ALBERT LEA — Riverland Community College’s president emphasized the value of education in overcoming obstacles to economic success Monday during the 27th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration in Albert Lea.

Adenuga Atewologun, who has served as Riverland’s president since 2013, said when he grew up in Africa, his life was much different than it is today.

Speaking in front of a crowd of at least 100 people in the Lecture Hall at the Albert Lea campus of the college, he told of how his mother sold jewelry and clothes to raise enough money for him and his siblings to attend school. Periodically, they were even kicked out of the school because they could not pay their tuition, he said.

Now, years later, Atewologun said his family did not let their financial status take away their opportunity to obtain an education. Out of the six brothers and sisters in his family, two obtained their doctorate degrees and one a medical decree.

Another became an engineer and another an accountant.

“Education is the most powerful weapon which we can use to change the world,” Atewologun said, citing Nelson Mandela.

The comments came as Atewologun and others reflected on the life of King, a pastor and a leader of the American civil rights movement in the 1960s who was shot dead in Memphis in 1968. Monday was the federal holiday honoring King.

Atewologun talked about the gaps in wealth between white people and black people and other minorities and obstacles that exist today.

When it comes to wealth, he said the top 1 percent own more than 42 percent of the wealth in the country. Few in this 1 percent are minorities, he noted.

“We have to really as a nation focus on overcoming those challenges,” he said.

He said people need to set goals as a community and as individuals to achieve. He also talked of hard work, patience, character and financial planning.

He reassured the audience they can contribute to overcoming some of the challenges and leave the world a better place.

Freeborn County Board Chairman Mike Lee challenged the audience to figure out what they can do to make Albert Lea and Freeborn County a better place to live.

Lee said though King died, his legacy lives on.

Albert Lea High School student Isabel Ehrhardt, a member of the school’s philosophy club, referenced minority-law enforcement relations stemming from incidents in Fergus, Missouri, and Staten Island, New York.

She said if King were still alive today, he would have likely protested the incidents but he would have denounced the violence that has taken place because of them.

Ehrhardt and other philosophy club members compared information such as unemployment rates, high school graduation and college attendance rates for King’s time versus the present percentages.

They said there are still gaps that remain between races.

In addition to the speakers, the Albert Lea High School chorale performed under the direction of vocal music director Diane Heaney, and teacher Jeremy Corey-Gruenes presented the Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship to seniors Quinn Andersen and Yusenina Brito Lino.