Lincoln Announces Speakers for Morgan Stone Day 2014

PROVIDENCE, RI – Lincoln School will hold its 9^th Morgan Stone Day on Thursday, January 30, 2014. Morgan Stone ’00 was a long-time student at Lincoln and served as a leader of the school’s multicultural club, when she was in the Upper School. Morgan was outspoken, intellectual, inspirational, and endlessly curious. She graduated in the spring of 2000 and died a few months later. Since then, Lincoln’s annual celebration of “Morgan Stone Day” has commemorated Morgan’s spirit and her dedication to issues of diversity and equity. Just as Morgan regularly challenged her peers and her teachers, Lincoln takes this opportunity each year to renew its commitment to a community that is inclusive and equitable for all. Each year, students select a theme for the day, formulate Essential Questions based on that theme, then invite guests from the extended Lincoln community and beyond into the school to share their perspectives on that theme through small workshop sessions.

Kobi Dennis from Project: Night Vision is the keynote speaker. Project: Night Vision was created in 2009 and came to fruition during the spring of 2010 in collaboration with state and local law enforcement, community members and local businesses. The mission of the program is to provide care and services for inner-city youth ages 12yrs.-18yrs. Through education, team building, athletics, community service and job exploration Project: Night Vision intends to propel youth to their full potential. Currently the program has over 3,500 youth actively enrolled in four locations, along with several volunteers and collaborators throughout the state of RI.

There will be workshops throughout the day. Speakers include Mary Gwann, Breaking the Chains: Emancipating Yourself from Mental Slavery, Elan Cohen, Christina Rivero, Joshua Kerkhoff, SeSamuel Batista and Vickie Hilaire, Speak Up: explores the barriers to responding to prejudice, Julian Rodríguez-Drix, Green DRIVE Bus Project, Elana Rosenberg, LGBT 101, DeLaine Mayer and Karessa Irvin, The Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, Introduction to Kingian Nonviolence & Six Principles of Nonviolence, Sussy Santana, Creative writing workshop, Keith Catone, Power to the People!, Contessa Brown, Creating a Radical Voice, Reza Clifton, Making Access: A Simple Checklist for Radical Inclusion, Sochea Springwater, Spoken Word Poetry, Nick Figueroa, Finding Your Voice and Taking Action and Thomas Kerr-Vanderslice, An Introduction to Action Civics.

The day will conclude with two workshops: from Chris Messinger, the Executive Director of Boston Mobilization, a youth-serving non-profit that works each year with hundreds of teens. Messinger has been in that role for the past seven years. Highlights during this time include co-authoring Speak Up! A Personal Stories Project – an anthology of student stories that are being used by independent and public schools around the country to start productive conversations about race and racism.  He has also supported teens to build power to get their voice heard by the political establishment, leading to meetings with the Governor Deval Patrick and State Senator Elizabeth Warren. The second workshop will feature Shanthi Yogini, an engineer, storyteller and Yoga Master. Her workshop is Walking the Talk through Dance and Story. Through a demonstration the kids learn how Indian dance can be used as a tool to achieve it. Students will use their body as a tool to express a story and finally share an area where they can begin to implement the idea of walking the talk

Lincoln School is an independent college preparatory school for girls where high academic and ethical standards challenge students from Nursery through Grade 12 to nurture their special talents and interests.

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