Date: January 7, 2009
Contact: Carol Connelly, Director,
Media & Communication Services, ext. 5267, cconnelly@pnc.edu
PNC Hosts Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Activities
WESTVILLE – Purdue University North Central will be the site of the 14 th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Community Celebration Breakfast on Monday, Jan. 19 at 8 a.m. in the PNC Library-Student-Faculty Building cafeteria. The event, sponsored by the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Celebration Committee and Purdue North Central, is free and open to the public. The event's theme is “The time is always right to do what is right."
Allan Whitlow, executive director of the Boys & Girls Club of Michigan City , will be the moderator for the breakfast. Rev. David Swarn, pastor of the New Life A.M.E. Church in Merrillville , will offer the invocation and Rev. William H. Fine of St. John's United Church of Christ in Michigan City , will deliver the benediction.
The featured speaker is Karen Freeman-Wilson, former Indiana attorney general, judge, executive director of the Indiana Civil Rights Commission, deputy prosecutor and public defender.
Breakfast participants are asked to bring a book to be donated to the annual Bring a Book to Breakfast program, sponsored by the PNC Student Education Association. All books will be given to the Literacy Council of Healthy Communities of LaPorte County.
As part of the breakfast activities, the winners of the local essay contest for children will be announced. PNC Alumnus Roscoe Hoffman will perform at the piano. A local choir will also perform.
Following the breakfast the annual PNC Dialogue will take place in LSF Room 144. The 38 minute film, “ A Time for Justice: America 's Civil Rights Movement” will be shown, followed by a discussion led by moderator Robert Mellin, PNC continuing lecturer of English.
From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Dr. David Pratt, PNC associate professor of Education , and students in the PNC Department of Education and Kappa Delta Pi, the education honor society, will travel to the Michigan City Public Library to lead a series of activities for children. All children are welcome to attend, but activities are intended for youngsters ages two to 12. This will include games and crafts and a chance to listen to Dr. King's “I Have a Dream” speech and write about their own dream. Children will also enjoy coloring pages, a bingo game and stories read aloud.
Pratt's students have also developed an on-line curriculum resource to help teachers and parents of home-schooled students celebrate the life of Dr. King in their classrooms.
The students have created a website that provides a wealth of information, resources and lesson plans that are appropriate for a variety of grade levels. It also includes special resources such as video and audio clips of Dr. King's speeches and other interactive web activities useful for students before, during and after the holiday.
This website can be located at http://www.MLKwebsites.com.
PNC students, faculty, staff and community members are invited to join a Martin Luther King Jr. Day Service Project at one of three community agencies - Michiana Resources, LaPorte YMCA and The Bridge daycare facility at the Stepping Stone in Michigan City . Volunteers may contact Keri Marrs Barron, PNC director of Student Activities, at kmarrs@pnc.edu or call 219-785-5200, ext. 5479 to register.
To round out the day, community members may attend “Sacrifice in Unity” event from 6 to 8 p.m. ay St. John's United Church of Christ, 101 St. John Road , in Michigan City . This free event will feature gospel music, praise dancers and short historical presentations of the life of Dr. King. It is sponsored by the Michigan City Ministerial Alliance and the Northwestern Indiana Ministers' Conference, LaPorte County NAACP and Purdue North Central. Further information on this event may be obtained by contacting Dr. Sharron Jenkins, PNC assistant professor of Chemistry, sjenkins@pnc.edu or at 219-785-5200, ext. 5206.
Information about the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Celebration Breakfast and activities may be obtained by contacting Patricia A. Carlisle, PNC special assistant to the chancellor, at pcarlisle@pnc.edu or 219-785-5200 ext. 5241. Persons with disabilities requiring accommodations should Carlisle by noon on Friday, Jan. 16.
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