Auburn School District No. 408
915 4th Street Northeast, Auburn, WA  98002

 01/20/04

NEWS RELEASE
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
School Activities in Auburn School District

All Auburn School District schools will be honoring the national holiday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which was Monday, January 19.  The schools celebrate the holiday with various activities and events:

• Evergreen Heights Elementary School had an assembly at 2 p.m. on Friday, January 16 with students singing and the PTA-sponsored speaker, Ted Hutchinson, presenting a program, “Bring Them Back to Life.”

• Chinook Elementary School held a Lifeskills /Academic Excellence assembly on Martin Luther King Jr.’s 75th birthday on Thursday, January 15^th and dedicated a portion of the assembly to Dr. King’s memory.  The ASB students read a biography of his life and actions.  All students have also the opportunity to participate in the Sonics Black History Heroes Challenge.

• Auburn High School held two assemblies on Friday, January 16 at 9:30 and 10:30 a.m.  Also, each classroom created a dream to present in the assembly, so there was entire school involvement.  Students have created a Martin Luther King Jr. poster to be placed in classrooms and hallways with poems and related information.

• West Auburn High School will hold an assembly during which ASB representatives will enter the gymnasium one at a time reciting lines from King’s “I have a dream” speech.  They will be holding candles that are lighted off of each other as a symbol of unity.  The assembly will be on Thursday, January 29 at 10:30 a.m.

• Lea Hill Elementary School will be having a one-person play, "The Life of MLK," presented on Thursday, January 22 at 1:30 and 2:30 p.m.

• Dick Scobee Elementary School will be having a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. one-man play presented by Mobile Ed Productions, a company that brings educational assemblies to schools on Monday, January 26 at 8:45 and 9:45 a.m.

• Mt. Baker Middle School had individual classroom activities.

• Olympic Middle School is having on-going diversity activities which include a diversity committee, student diversity club, and the all-school "Celebrate Us" cultural event.  On Wednesday, January 14, Arnold Thomas, a Native American speaker, presented a completed a unit on "Living Voices," the story of Cesar Chavez.

• Auburn Riverside High School, the Martin Luther King Jr. assembly will be “Living Voices” and will be held on Thursday, January 29.  This year the program will be, “The Right to Dream.”  This story recreates a young man's coming of age as an African-American in Mississippi during the 1950's and 1960's.

• Pioneer Elementary School honors the national holiday with individual classroom activities.

• Ilalko Elementary School hosted guest speaker, Ted Hutchison, to address students at two assemblies at 9 and 10 a.m. on Friday, January 16.

For more information, contact Dr. Kip Herren, deputy superintendent of Auburn School District, at (253) 931-4920.