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Delta and Park Forest Elementary recognized for understanding and acceptance
Last year, the Delta Program and Park Forest Elementary School made notable efforts to educate students about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the experiences of African Americans — and the Forum on Black Affairs at Penn State took note.
At its 43rd annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Banquet last month, FOBA recognized Delta and Park Forest with Student Group Awards for creating innovative programs that promoted racial and cultural understanding and acceptance.
In honor of MLK Day, Park Forest offered various lessons and activities centered on King’s advocacy for equality and peace. Students learned songs, poems and chants about him in music class, and discussed his life and legacy in those classes during reading lessons. They also created “I have a dream” statements and murals, wrote peace statements after reading the poetry book “Somewhere Today,” and studied influential civil rights figures such as Rosa Parks.
Additionally, they wrote acrostic poems based on lessons focusing on peace, love, freedom and togetherness, and created a wreath titled “The Hands of Friendship Have No Color.” Drawing inspiration from a historic peace dove image by Pablo Picasso, students also reflected upon and discussed their definitions of peace for various settings — classroom, school, community and the world. They also examined King’s marches and dreams for a better future as examples of people working to enact non-violent change.
At Delta, teachers worked with Penn State doctoral student Wideline Seraphin to organize a week-long series of afternoon activities and lessons in preparation for an end-of-the-year school field trip to the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.
After a discussion about the museum on the first day, the series switched to social studies teacher Paul McCormick’s overview of key points of African American history, including the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments; the Dred Scott decision; the civil rights movement; and discrimination past and present. Small group discussions followed.
On the third day, students broke into groups to watch and discuss movies that tell stories of African Americans, such as “The Help,” “Remember the Titans,” “Selma” and “Malcolm X.” For the fourth day, Penn State student Brian Anthony Davis, an African American activist, visited to give his TEDxPSU talk about addressing police brutality. Afterward, State High students in The Cultural Experience Club and the Diversity Club led small group discussions on trust, microaggressions, and the role of a student ally.
The fifth day featured a diverse group of speakers from Delta, the community and Penn State, including Charles Dumas, a Penn State Professor Emeritus of Theatre who protested in the civil rights movement during the 1960s. In similar fashion to the Penn State “human books” program, each shared life stories and answered questions.
“We are very honored to receive the award,” said Delta teacher Leah Mueller, a co-organizer along with Delta teacher Virginia Squier. “However, I think what we learned from this experience is that there is still so much work to do. Even though we cleared five afternoons of instruction to talk about difference, acceptance, and empathy, we still need more time. These conversations have so much significance and I don't think there is a more important lesson than learning to listen to and understand the stories of others.”