{"id":87305,"date":"2021-02-15T16:32:39","date_gmt":"2021-02-15T22:32:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/?p=87305"},"modified":"2021-02-15T16:32:39","modified_gmt":"2021-02-15T22:32:39","slug":"delta-state-students-explore-living-the-dream-during-black-history-month-oratorical-contest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/2021\/02\/delta-state-students-explore-living-the-dream-during-black-history-month-oratorical-contest\/","title":{"rendered":"Delta State students explore \u201cLiving the Dream\u201d during Black History Month Oratorical Contest"},"content":{"rendered":"

CLEVELAND, Miss.<\/strong>\u2014<\/strong> Unity, support, equality, peace and justice\u2014these are a few of the many themes explored by Delta State University students during the inaugural Black History Month Oratorical Contest, hosted on Tuesday, Feb. 9.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we put all of this together, I think we have a very special dream for the future,\u201d said Interim Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Kurt Keppler in response to the four student speakers who shared their interpretation of the topic, \u201cLiving the Dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

Organized by the Office of Student Life as part of the Delta State\u2019s continued observance of Black History Month, the event was hosted in Jobe Auditorium and was also available for viewing on Facebook Live.<\/p>\n

During the competition, contestants were scored by judges for the chance to win a cash prize.<\/p>\n

The first-place winner and recipient of a $300 prize was Marcie Taylor Bacchus, a senior History major; the second-place winner and recipient of a $200 prize was Awwall Alli, a senior Nursing major; and the third-place winner and recipient of a $100 prize was Davontre Henderson, a junior Sports Management and Business Marketing major.<\/p>\n

\u201cDelta State is a university of inclusion; we celebrate our multi-cultural heritage every day,\u201d said President William N. LaForge as he welcomed those in attendance both in-person and virtually. \u201cWe pride ourselves on bringing people together and teaching them that there are different viewpoints and other ways of life. It is in this spirit that we celebrate this month and our students as they bring us wonderful messages.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Jaida Barnes, president of Delta State\u2019s National Pan-Hellenic Council<\/p><\/div>\n

President of Delta State\u2019s National Pan-Hellenic Council Jaida Barnes, who served as the program\u2019s guide, asked those in attendance to reflect on the event\u2019s topic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith everything that has been going on in today\u2019s society, we\u2019ve all had to reflect on the past, evaluate our present and dare to dream,\u201d she said. \u201cI hope tonight inspires ideas and discussions on how we can make our communities and our world a better place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Organizer Rochelle Oswley, DSU\u2019s director of student development, encouraged the Delta State community to continue to \u201cspeak up\u201d and \u201cspeak out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTonight is a celebration of love, hope, unity and the freedom to dream beyond expectations\u2014living and succeeding against the odds,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is my hope that this inaugural program will enlighten and empower all of us to embrace diversity, to share our stories and to continue the legacy of excellence and achievement highlighted during Black History Month.\u201d<\/p>\n

Click HERE<\/a> to view a replay of the event!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CLEVELAND, Miss.\u2014 Unity, support, equality, peace and justice\u2014these are a few of the many themes explored by Delta State University students during the inaugural Black History Month Oratorical Contest, hosted…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":87306,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1920,1829,1825],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-diversity","category-student-affairs","category-student-life"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87305","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\/610"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87305"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87308,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87305\/revisions\/87308"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}