Diversity

Shepherd University will host the Diversity and Cultural Competence: Create and Cultivate with Courage and Compassion seminar and workshop on Thursday, March 29.  A workshop for faculty and staff will be held in the Storer Ballroom, Student Center, from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m.; a seminar for prenursing and nursing students will be from 2 to 3 p.m. in the Frank Center. A workshop will be held with nursing faculty, the nursing advisory council, and community health care partners at 3:30 p.m. in Erma Ora Byrd Hall and a reception will follow the workshop.

As we prepare for our state's 150th birthday and reflect upon our history, we have many wonderful people for whom to be thankful - people who have worked together to make West Virginia what it is today. Our state was built by people of all different backgrounds; people like you and me, with stories passed down from generation to generation. Whether it's the fine craftsmen and resourceful laborers from Ireland, Scotland, Germany and Africa, the Swiss farmers who settled Helvetia or the first settlers who found their ways along the Midland Trail, their stories speak volumes to our culture, history and traditions.

From his five months of living in a community of resettled refugees in Clarkston, Ga., there is one conversation journalist Warren St. John says he will remember more than any other. St. John, author of "Outcasts United: An American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference," said Tuesday during a presentation at South Hagerstown High School that one of the most eye-opening exchanges he had while writing the book was talking with Shamshoun Dikori, a youth from central Sudan, about his experience coming to the United States at age 15. "He said that in his village in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan, if a stranger walked into town, everyone in the village would come out to meet that person, they'd bring a lot of food, and they'd have a lot of questions," St. John said.

No. 6 of a nine-part series BALTIMORE - A melting pot of religions, races and cultures, Goucher College embraces diversity. Students have endless opportunities to taste the multifarious flavors of our multicultural society. Believing that international awareness is an essential ingredient of a liberal arts education, Goucher officials plan to initiate a mandatory study abroad program in 2010. With students from more than 40 states and more than 15 countries, Goucher seeks to produce global citizens willing to engage in new experiences, inclined to foster an open mind, and determined to make a difference, whether in their own community or halfway around the world.

Fourteen-year-old Lawrence Staten invited the congregation of Asbury United Methodist Church on Sunday to travel through time and change history. cont. from front page Staten, son of the Rev. Yvone Mercer-Staten, evoked the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech as part of a program to celebrate Black History Month, which ends Tuesday. Staten speculated how the present would be different if King had not been murdered. Ralph Abernathy, a civil rights leader who was one of King's aides, would be the 43th president, racism would be outlawed as a crime against humanity and America would be a true melting pot accepting of all people, according to Staten.

Folk performers Kelly Armor and David Sturtevant bring diverse influences to their concerts. They also bring a lot of equipment. Armor said she has so many instruments that Sturtevant has placed a moratorium on getting any new ones. "I have about 11 onstage at any given time," Armor said in a telephone interview from Erie, Pa., where she lives with Sturtevant, her husband of 312 years. "It never fails," Armor said. "When we arrive at a gig, people say, 'Wow, you have a lot of stuff.

After taking several photos of female figures recently, photographer Bruce Wilder found he wasn't satisfied with the result. Wilder, of Boonsboro, said he wanted to temper the black and white photos' contrast by adding a subtle reddish-brown tint. He found the solution in strong spot of tea. By soaking the developed photos in a pan of tea mixed with water he was able to alter the hue to his liking. "It warms it up and it's nontoxic," he said. Being able to experiment with different photo techniques is what makes the art compelling, said Wilder.

martinsburg@herald-mail.com Diversity, not the Washington-area sniper attacks, was the focus Friday of a visit to Berkeley County by former Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose, who gained fame as the lead police spokesman during the sniper investigation a year ago. Moose, author of "Three Weeks in October: The Manhunt for the Serial Sniper," visited each of the county's three high schools and Valley View Elementary School during...

bonnieb@herald-mail.com CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Saying that the Wilson College Black Student Union is "a beacon to this campus," Simona Hill encouraged the Wilson community to talk openly about transformation and diversity. "Wilson is at a critical juncture in your history," said Hill, a scholar-activist. "You can make a decision for diversity, consistent with your strategic plans. You have an ethical responsibility to prepare students for a diverse world. " Hill visited Wilson College to take part in the institution's two-day "Colors of Wilson" Black History month event.

As she was growing up, pageant contestant Rachel Salvador said other children could not help but notice she looked different. Sometimes they even wondered if she spoke English. This year's first runner-up in the Miss Washington County scholarship pageant, Salvador has Cuban and Puerto Rican roots, and said she sometimes speaks "Spanglish" at home. In pageant circles, she talks the language of diversity. "My parents always taught us to walk with your head high. Don't be ashamed because God made us all different.

Seeking 500 Washington County enrollees to participate in a 20- to 30-year study aimed at finding cancer cures, the American Cancer Society on Thursday hosted an enrollment kick off with the plan to start collecting information and local blood samples in July. The national cancer prevention study, called CPS-3, looks to gain information on genetics, lifestyle and environmental factors that cause cancer by studying a sample constituting a diverse population of 300,000 Americans, according to Cathy Beckley-Thomas, Community Manager of the American Cancer Society's South Atlantic Division.

As we prepare for our state's 150th birthday and reflect upon our history, we have many wonderful people for whom to be thankful - people who have worked together to make West Virginia what it is today. Our state was built by people of all different backgrounds; people like you and me, with stories passed down from generation to generation. Whether it's the fine craftsmen and resourceful laborers from Ireland, Scotland, Germany and Africa, the Swiss farmers who settled Helvetia or the first settlers who found their ways along the Midland Trail, their stories speak volumes to our culture, history and traditions.

It was likely known to almost all at Hagerstown Community College's Kepler Theater on Monday that this year's official observance of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday also happened to coincide with the second inauguration of President Obama. “It's amazing just how far we have come as a society,” said Gloria Murray, who was attending the Martin Luther King Jr. Diversity Celebration with her husband Nickey and children Matthew, Marqus, Nicole and Michael. “It's exciting because my kids have an opportunity to see this,” she said.

Professionals from diverse backgrounds are working every day for a vulnerable segment of Franklin County's population, dedicating their efforts to preventing and fighting sexual abuse of children. When Lauren Sulcove left the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office in 2007 and moved to Franklin County, she expected to be prosecuting fewer child sex abuse cases because of the smaller population and rural setting. “I have as many cases now as I did in Philadelphia,” said Sulcove, who graduated from Temple University School of Law. In the city, Sulcove worked with other prosecutors who handled cases involving sexual abuse of a minor.

Shepherd University will host the Diversity and Cultural Competence: Create and Cultivate with Courage and Compassion seminar and workshop on Thursday, March 29.  A workshop for faculty and staff will be held in the Storer Ballroom, Student Center, from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m.; a seminar for prenursing and nursing students will be from 2 to 3 p.m. in the Frank Center. A workshop will be held with nursing faculty, the nursing advisory council, and community health care partners at 3:30 p.m. in Erma Ora Byrd Hall and a reception will follow the workshop.

I was recently asked what I like most about my job. My answer was that every day is different, and the wide variety of people with whom I get to work. I used the example that in the previous week, I had consultations with a dairy farmer, a family working to transition to the next generation, a shepherd whose day job is at NIH and an aspiring blueberry grower who is an administrator at a local college. While these folks might seem very different, they are also greatly similar.

Today's brides want gowns as diverse as they are, bridal experts said Sunday. New York-based designer Madeline Gardner joined the staff of Chambersburg's J&B Bridals for the store's annual Bridal Expo at Wilson College. Gardner presented 34 designs from her spring 2012 line from the Mori Lee collection. The gowns had a variety of shapes, fabrics and embellishments, reflecting what Gardner said is demand for diversity. "It's frilly, it's sexy, it's texture," Gardner said of the latest style requests.

Last week, I used this column to suggest that the City of Hagerstown create a Community Development Corporation to develop and execute a vision for the downtown. I did not intend to criticize or judge, merely to point out that to my knowledge there is not a cohesive plan to move the downtown forward. I'd like to define in this week's column who I suggest should make up a CDC Board. Other than some time spent doing a little community development here locally, I have no particular bona fides to support my opinion.

Herald-Mail columnist Allan Powell has devoted several recent op-eds to arguing for bigger, more activist government. He claims that limited government as envisioned by the Founders and advocated by many people today is “obsolete” and can't address the problems of the modern world. Powell's comments are sincere and thoughtful, and deserve reply. To answer him, we must understand limited government's core principles: what it values, what it considers the proper role of government and what it considers private.

Tuesday is one of Donna Clevenger’s favorite days of the week.   It’s the day she volunteers at the REACH Day Resource Center, a weekly commitment around which she  schedules everything else. “I look forward to Tuesdays, I just have to tell you,” said Clevenger, 71. Clevenger started volunteering at REACH about three years ago, after seeing a plea for volunteers in a newspaper. Her approximately 30-year career as a nurse ended with her retirement in the 1990s, and she was searching for a way to give back to the community.