News Release
April 2001
(Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) -- Over 400 students, teachers,
and administrators from 22 Lehigh Valley and Berks county high schools
will participate in a conference on Tuesday, April 3 and Wednesday,
April 4, at Moravian College focusing on ethnic and cultural diversity.
The conference, titled "The Promise of the Rainbow: The Challenge
of Racial and Ethnic Cultural Diversity in Schools," will provide
an opportunity to explore issues of racial and cultural diversity in
an open, positive and constructive manner. Moravian College, in association
with First Union National Bank and Just Born Inc, is sponsoring the
annual conference -- now in its seventh year. The goal of the conference
is to foster a better understanding and appreciation of the cultural
diversity found today in schools, according to Dr. John Reynolds, a
Moravian political science professor and conference organizer. The program's
main focus is teaching conflict resolution skills; this year there's
a special emphasis on commitment. "It is important that the conference
has a lasting positive impact. This year we are going to ask each participating
school to make a commitment to take a tangible first step in promoting
inclusiveness," he said. "We will then contact schools in
the spring to follow-up and document their progress. The goal is to
then publish and distribute a booklet, highlighting the year's progress,
to other schools as an example of what can be done to improve understanding."
"We have the most diverse nation in the world and it's important
to recognize that there are great benefits to derive from that diversity,"
Reynolds said. "Unfortunately there is also a great deal of pain,
hatred, and conflict because of our diversity. This conference is designed
to teach people to embrace the benefits of diversity."
Diversity Conference at Moravian College Approximately
400 high school students are expected to attend the conference. Participating
schools on April 3 include William Allen, Parkland, Notre Dame, Pleasant
Valley, CIT, Emmaus, Whitehall, Easton, Northampton, BECA, and Upward
Bound - Kutztown, Reading. The following will participate on April:
Liberty, Freedom, Stroudsburg, Southern Lehigh, Phillipsburg, Lehigh
Valley Christian, Nazareth, and Moravian Academy. The conference will
be highlighted by a "sociodrama" workshop - a role-playing
experience in which students and teachers will dramatize situations
of potential conflict. The workshop will be followed by group discussions
in which students will examine the sociodrama situations and explore
how their high school experiences are shaped by cultural diversity.
Teachers and administrators from their schools will join the high school
students at the conference. Also attending will be students and educators
from Moravian College and other Lehigh Valley colleges, and representatives
of several community organizations. The conference will be held at the
Prosser Auditorium in Haupert Union Building (HUB) on Moravian College's
Main Street campus. Moravian College is a private, coeducational, selective
liberal arts college located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Tracing its
founding to 1742, it is recognized as America's sixth-oldest college.
Moravian College is located at Main and Locust streets in Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania. For more information, call 610-625-7880. SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Tuesday, April 3, Wednesday April 4 8:00 - 8:30 Registration: Haupert
Union Building (HUB) 8:30 - 8:45 Orientation: Prosser Auditorium (HUB)
8:45 - 10:15 Sociodrama
10:30 - Noon Discussion Workshop: Who Am I? Who Are They?
Group 1: Prosser Auditorium (HUB) Group 2: United Room
(HUB) Group 3: Brethren's Room (HUB) Group 4: Church Room (HUB) Group
5: Snyder Room (HUB) Group 6: Air Products Room (HUB) Group 7: Amrhein
Room (HUB) Group 8: Bernhardt-Wilhelm Lounge Group 9: Rau-Hassler Lounge
Group 10: Jo Smith Lounge
12:15 - Noon Lunch (Johnston Hall)
