That the 10-year, $1.57 million endeavor\u2014funded by the NEH and attended by more than 600 teachers in public and private primary and secondary schools so far\u2014would garner such acclaim makes sense to NHA Executive Director Dr. Stephen Kidd.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have long been impressed by the quality of Delta State University\u2019s program, \u2018The Most Southern Place on Earth,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cIt is gratifying, now, to see the degree to which it is valued by teachers whose careers are shaped by their experience in the Delta and who bring its history and culture home with them, sharing the region with communities across the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n
The survey included feedback from 137 Most Southern workshop alumni\u2014more than 20 percent of participants. Among the findings:<\/p>\n
- \n
- 100 percent said the workshop helped them grow as an educator, with 43 percent specifying \u201ctransformative growth\u201d and 51 percent selecting \u201csignificant growth.\u201d<\/li>\n
- 100 percent rated Most Southern superior to other professional development opportunities, 62 percent of whom called it \u201cvastly superior.\u201d<\/li>\n
- 92 percent were \u201cextremely satisfied\u201d with the return on their invested time and energy. The remaining 8 percent were \u201csatisfied.\u201d<\/li>\n
- 72 percent said the workshop inspired them to pursue additional education or professional development opportunities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/03\/Second-photo-July-2018-NEH-at-Chinese-cemetery-and-Cathy-Wong-645x430.jpg\")
NEH Most Southern workshop participants learn about the Delta Chinese Cemetery in Greenville, Miss., in July 2018.<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cWe were honored that the National Humanities Alliance recognized Most Southern last year, and we were even more honored when the Alliance contacted The Delta Center about conducting this study,\u201d said Dr. Rolando Herts, director of the Delta Center for Culture and Learning, which is part of Delta State University, and co-director of Most Southern with Lee Aylward, who is program associate for education and community outreach at the Delta Center. \u201c<\/strong>We knew anecdotally that our program has impacted teachers and their school communities positively. Based on the results of this study, we now have strong empirical evidence that the Most Southern program is empowering educators nationwide to teach Mississippi Delta heritage stories and their significance to American history and culture.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most Southern returns for two 2019 sessions: Sunday, June 16 – Saturday, June 22; and Sunday, July 7 – Saturday, July 13, 2019. For more information, go online to deltacenterdsu.com\/mostsouthern.<\/p>\n
Attendees receive a stipend for their participation via NEH funding.<\/p>\n
The NHA is a nationwide coalition of organizations advocating for the humanities on campuses, in communities, and on Capitol Hill. Founded in 1981, the NHA is supported by more than 200 member organizations, including colleges, universities, libraries, museums, cultural organizations, state humanities councils, and scholarly, professional, and higher education associations. It is the only organization that brings together the U.S. humanities community as a whole.<\/p>\n
The mission of The Delta Center is to promote greater understanding of Mississippi Delta culture and history and its significance to the world through education, partnerships, and community engagement. The Delta Center serves as the management entity of the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area, for which Herts serves as executive director, and is the home of the International Delta Blues Project.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/03\/Third-photo-NEH-Most-Southern-at-Fannie-Lou-Hamer-Memorial-Garden-Ruleville-MS-June-2017-645x430.jpg\")
NEH Most Southern workshop participants take photos of voting rights activist and Mississippi native Fannie Lou Hamer\u2019s statue in Ruleville, Miss., in July 2015.
Photo credit for all pics: Robertson Scholars\/The Delta Center.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Delta Center for Culture and Learning\u2019s venerable summer workshop, \u201cThe Most Southern Place on Earth: Music, History, and Culture of the Mississippi Delta,\u201d recently received further praise from the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":566,"featured_media":83150,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,28,1652,1895,1912],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-college-of-education-and-human-sciences","category-delta-center","category-international-delta-blues-project","category-mississippi-delta-national-heritage-area","category-press-releases"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/566"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83149"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83153,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83149\/revisions\/83153"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}