VALPARAISO | You already know how to succeed. Now you need to learn how to fail.

That was the message of writer and composer James McBride to the Valparaiso University community and hundreds of others during the Martin Luther King Jr. Day convocation Monday at the university.

McBride, author of "The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother," said that by learning to fail, he meant being able to get back up after being laid low by what life has to offer.

His mother, a white Jew originally from Poland, took hits all her life but just ignored the adversity and moved on, McBride said.

"Learning how to fail is probably the best gift God has given you," he said.

McBride, an award-winning composer and saxophone player, encouraged the undergraduates to study what excited them rather than treat college as job training.

He also urged them to study abroad and give the world a look at the United States' less militaristic side.

"The world needs to see more of us dressed in T-shirts," he said.

VU President Mark Heckler said the day was an opportunity for all to reflect on what they can do to further King's legacy. He also called on the campus community to make donations to help victims of last week's earthquake in Haiti.

"Valpo, we need to step up and do our part," Heckler said.

More than 200 Valparaiso High School students attended the convocation. Members of the school's history club also stayed for seminars on a variety of topics related to King's life and work.

Erik Paavola said the annual celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday often seems overlooked as something that comes and goes on the calendar. Attending the VU events gave the day devoted to the slain civil rights leader more attention than it usually gets, the Valparaiso High School senior said.

Fellow senior Andrea Kalasountas, who used to get the day off as a student in Chicago, said a special day of events "helps you realize what a great person (King) was."

For junior Mookie Williams, the VU commemoration was useful, he said, because he felt not enough was said about King at the high school on the holiday.

But senior Michael Perkins said the school seemed to be making more of an effort to mark the holiday. Perkins said he identified with McBride because his own mother often gave him a similar message of striving, picking himself up after disappointments and trying new things every day.