PRESS RELEASE: Richfield Middle School Elders Celebration
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 23, 2009
Richfield Middle School will host a community celebration honoring three Richfield community elders at Richfield Middle School auditorium on March 4, 2009, 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM. The community is welcome to attend.
The celebration will feature Elder Wisdom, Children’s Song™ - an educational process developed by America’s Troubadour and Smithsonian Folkways Recording Artist, Larry Long, that honors history and celebrates diversity through writing and performing songs.
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, elders, and people of different backgrounds - economic, faith, racial, and cultural - to honor and celebrate commonalities and differences. (For more information: (www.communitycelebration.org)
Long has been working with the West Metro Education Program (WMEP) to provide this process for schools within the WMEP consortium. Recently, Long has been working with students at Richfield Middle School to transform oral histories into songs and recitations that honor the life stories of the following community elders:
Dr. M. Eprevel Law - The story of a homeless child from the Southside of Chicago, who pursued his dreams of fulfilling his PhD in Entomology and Post Doctoral work in Theology.
Edwina Garcia – The story of a young Latino girl who overcame prejudice and abuse to become the first woman of color to be elected to the Minnesota Legislature, representing the community of Richfield.
Sandy Belkengren – The story of the daughter of a police officer fighting to secure equal treatment for female athletes as a physical education instructor and current school board member for Richfield Public Schools.
The Elder Wisdom, Children’s Song™ community celebration is free and open to the public. For more information about the Richfield Middle School celebration, call 612-798-6501.
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. (www.wmep.k12.mn.us)