Alpha Chi 2010 in Little Rock

ALPHA CHI IN LITTLE ROCK

On Tuesday, March 23, the day after returning from ICFA in Orlando, I flew to Little Rock, Arkansas--a place I had not previously visited--for the 2010 Alpha Chi Super Regional Convention held at the Peabody Hotel along the Arkansas River.


I arrived early to read scholarship papers for the Robert W. Sledge and H. Y. Benedict fellowships for students who will attend graduate school; Alpha Chi awards each year a variety of scholarships and fellowships, totaling $60,000.


Over the course of this wonderfully successful gathering, I took quite a few photographs you can easily download as individual images or albums.


You will find the images in three separate albums in chronological order: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three. In addition, I created from selected photographs a short video that features some of the conference's highlights.

Quite a few colleges from Region IV of which Peru State College is a member attended, including this year's Star Chapter Award schools, Friends University, Westminster College, and Evangel University, last year's President Cup's winner, a huge honor for both the school and our region. (Evangel Alpha Chi sponsor Laynah Rogers is pictured on the right)

In addition to hundreds of student presentations, the gathering featured special events and people, including our keynote speaker, Carlotta Walls LaNier, one of the Little Rock Nine.


She not only delivered a riveting speech, but she also and kindly used her honorarium to purchase nearly four-hundred copies of her recently published memoir, A Mighty Long Way, My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School.


Each attendee received a copy thanks to Carlotta Walls LaNier's generosity.


Friday afternoon, a number of us visited Little Rock Central High School, a beautiful and still imposing building--now a National Historical Site.



In addition to raising $2,500.00 for Heifer International for the purchase of livestock for families across the world that benefit from this worthy organization, Alpha Chi members donated over 2,000 children's books.


In addition to going to the high school, just as we did at last year's national conference in Indianapolis where we donated books to the children's hospital there, a group of us brought the 2,000 books to Arkansas Children's Hospital.

Alpha Chi will continue this service-project focus on literacy at next year's National Conference in San Diego.


Friday's busy schedule culminated with a trip to the William J. Clinton Presidential Library.

There members packed the building's Great Hall to listen to an excellent discussion about the Bill Clinton by Carol Rasco, president and CEO of Reading is Fundamental (RIF), the national literacy organization, James L. (Skip) Rutherford, and Janis Kearney, all former officials in the administration of Arkansas native President Bill Clinton.



After the panel discussion concluded, we enjoyed a tour of this impressive and beautiful presidential library.


Oh, I enjoyed my stay in the Peabody Hotel and posted a video of the a special event that takes place twice a day, at 11:00 am and 5:30 pm, the famous March of the Ducks.

Enjoy all the pictures and the videos--and take the time to learn more about Alpha Chi.