PRESS RELEASE: Hopkins Celebration 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 6, 2008
Contact Information:
Anthony Galloway,
West Metro Education Program
(952) 848-4098
anthony_galloway@wmep.k12.mn.us
Dr. Rosemary Lawrence, Principal,
952-988-4300
Eisenhower Elementary School Presents:
Elders’ Wisdom, Children’s Song
Eisenhower Elementary School will host a community celebration honoring three Hopkins community elders on May 6, 2008 from 7:00 PM – 8 PM at:
Hopkins Community Center Auditorium
1001 Hwy 7
Hopkins, MN 55305
This celebration is the culmination of an artist residency with renowned troubadour and Minnesota native Larry Long. Demand for Long’s work across the country led to the creation of Community Celebration of Place, a non-profit organization that brings together children and elders of different backgrounds - economic, religious, racial, and cultural - to honor and celebrate commonalities and differences. Long has been working in partnership with the West Metro Education Program (WMEP) to provide this process for schools within the WMEP consortium. For more information: (www.communitycelebration.org)
Long’s most recent work with students at Eisenhower Elementary School involved collecting recitations and writing songs which honor the life stories of the following community elders:
Gita Kar – Author, poet and storyteller from the Raja Yoga tradition of. India
Ken Novak – Educator and basketball coach for 57 years in the Hopkins School District
Andi Adelman – Educator, volunteer, and sponsor of sign language in Hopkins Public Schools.
The Elder Wisdom, Children’s Song™ community celebration is free and open to the public. For more information about the Eisenhower Elementary School celebration, call Jill Swanson at 952-988-4300.
The West Metro Education Program (WMEP), School District was formed in 1989 to cooperatively address integration issues in the west metro area. The mission of WMEP is to promote student success and community acceptance of differences by providing opportunities for students, families, and staff from diverse backgrounds to learn from and with each other. Member districts of WMEP are: Brooklyn Center, Columbia Heights, Eden Prairie, Edina, Hopkins, Minneapolis, Richfield, Robbinsdale, St. Anthony/New Brighton, St, Louis Park, and Wayzata.