For more information: Nancy Bent, 404-373-8746 x8135
nancy.bent@friendsschoolatlanta.org
Friends School to Hold Panel on Education Integration as a Public Good
On Saturday, January 31, 2015, The Friends School of Atlanta (FSA) will hold its 5th annual Beloved Community Dialogue, featuring an intergenerational panel discussion on how a fully integrated education is good for everyone. To be moderated by Dr. Elizabeth DeBray, Professor of Education at the University of Georgia, the panel will also include Elizabeth Wilson, Mayor Emeritus of Decatur and longtime civil rights activist, and Maurlia Upchurch, an FSA alum and current junior at Duke University, among others. The conversation will focus on how an integrated education is ultimately for the good of the individual as well as the public, based in the belief that access to and diversity in education is critical to a thriving society and very much a civil rights issue, especially when our schools are becoming alarmingly resegregated.
Founded in 1991, The Friends School of Atlanta remains the only Quaker school in Georgia. Every day at FSA, the faculty and staff strive to instill those values in its students deemed essential for building the all-inclusive Beloved Community envisioned by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., where differences are embraced as strengths, not feared, and every single person is respected as an individual of infinite worth. Like Dr. King, Quakers believe that through empathy and respect for others and personal integrity, connections can be made that can resolve even the fiercest disputes between nations, religions, cultures or individuals. As the work to build Beloved Community in our society moves forward, FSA seeks to make a critical contribution by instilling the Quaker values of equality, integrity and community in its students and by hosting these dialogues that are designed to educate and ultimately uplift us all as we realize our individual and collective capacities for peace making and community building.
The Beloved Community Dialogue will be held at the FSA campus at 862 Columbia Drive in Decatur and is open to the public. General admission is $10 per ticket. Premium tickets are $100 each and include invitation to a reception with the esteemed panelists. The reception for premium ticket holders begins at 5:00 pm, and the panel discussion will take place from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm. For more information about the event and purchasing tickets, please visit the FSA website at www.friendsschoolatlanta.org or contact Nancy Bent, Director of Advancement: 404-373-8746 x8135; nancy.bent@friendsschoolatlanta.org.
The Friends School of Atlanta, offering a pre-K – 8th grade program, has a mission to provide challenging academics in a diverse environment, drawing on the Quaker values of a simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality and stewardship to empower students to go out into the world with conscience, conviction and compassion. More information at www.friendsschoolatlanta.org.
