Highlight of events at colleges in the Pioneer Valley.
Clinton initiative
Fourteen Mount Holyoke College students participated in The Clinton Global Initiative University, March 21 through 23, at Arizona State University.
The program is built on the Clinton Global Initiative, which brings together world leaders to address global issues. The South Holyoke college provided $10,000 to enable its students to attend the conference.
Its participants included Amelia Pinal, whose vision is for more community-health workers in Springfield; Celine Mudahakana who wants to help Rwandan children affected by HIV/AIDS earn money by weaving, and Lisa Dias who wants to increase literacy in Tanzania.
'Raisin in the Sun'
SPRINGFIELD - The Theater Arts Program at American International College
will present Lorraine Hansberry’s classic, "A Raisin in the Sun," April 25 through 27. Set on Chicago’s South Side in the 1950s, the plot revolves around an African American family and the prejudice they face in pursuing their dreams.
The play will be performed in the Griswold Theatre at 7 p.m. on April 25 and April 26, and 2 p.m. on April 27. All performances are open to the public free of charge. Donations will be accepted.
Area participants include Travis McNulty, of Enfield, Conn., as Travis
Younger, and Kyle Jamison, of Springfield, as Bobo.
Women celebrated
WESTFIELD - Several events remain in Westfield State University's annual "Month Celebrating Women."
The tribute, designed to bring awareness to the rights of women, is organized by a board of faculty members led by Margot Hennessey, chair of the ethnic and gender studies department.
March 31- Susanna Ashton, a professor from Clemson University, will lecture on the historical events that she believed inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe to write her famous novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin," including the night that Stowe harbored a fugitive slave. The event will be held in Loughman Living Room at 7 p.m.
April 1 - A panel will be held on "Good Hair," a discussion surrounding the perceptions of black women's beauty, upbringing, and success. The panel, comprised of students, faculty, and staff, will put an emphasis on internalized racism and the politics surrounding the black female body. The panel will be held in the Owl's Nest at 5 p.m.
April 8 - Artist SD Holman will discuss "Butch: Not like the other girls" at 6 p.m. in Wilson Sav. Auditorium C.
April 9 - Professor Kamal Ali of the ethnic and gender studies department, will moderate a Muslim women's panel discussion, "The Hussein Sisters: Local Bullying in the Here and Now," in Mod Hall, Room 106, at 4 p.m. Najma, Hibo, and Filsan Hussein are teenage Somali women who were born in Kenya and moved to West Springfield in 2004. The girls suffered verbal and physical attacks, ostracism, and intense bullying following the attacks on the World Trade Center.
All of the events are free and open to the public.