On May 5, 2016, the Officers and members of the Stevenson University’s Psi Omicron Chapter of Kappa Delta Pi and their counselor, Dr. Clotile Galbraith, sponsored a “Literacy Alive” event entitled, “Cinderella Around the World.”
Over forty children (grades 1-3) from the AKOBEN Foundation, a Baltimore afterschool program, visited the Pavilion on the Greenspring campus.
The AKOBEN Foundation is an interactive afterschool program that fuses reading literacy and the performing arts. Its mission is to improve the high school graduation rate in impoverished neighborhoods through improved literacy and communication skills for children from birth through the third grade. The theme of the Kappa Delta Pi event, “Cinderella Around the World,” depicted the Cinderella story as told in eight different cultures. The children were assigned to stations where they listened to a version of the Cinderella story, made props and costumes of the story’s culture, and acted out a part of the story for the audience. The children were excited to be out of the city and on a “real” college campus!
The event was a collaborative effort of Ryan Turner (Founder and Executive Director of the AKOBEN Foundation), Dr. Christine Moran (Stevenson University Dean of Student Success), Dr. Clotile Galbraith (Counselor of Kappa Delta Pi), Officers Ashley Zester and Jordyn Smith and members of the Kappa Delta Pi organization.
In addition, School of Education students in donated twelve picture books that they designed in the Materials for Teaching Reading course to the AKOBEN Foundation. The books will be dedicated to the Foundation at a ceremony that honors its Community Partners on June 9, 2016.