NEWS & CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS

Raising awareness of world hunger issues is the goal of an Oxfam Hunger Banquet planned for the Tusculum College campus on Wednesday, April 14. The event will be held at 5 p.m. in the Chalmers Conference Center in Niswonger Commons.

For admittance to the banquet, individuals are asked to bring a canned food item or make a charitable contribution of their choosing. The canned food items and cash donations will benefit the Mission Soup Kitchen at Tabernacle Presbyterian Church in Greeneville.

Participants are encouraged to call and register in advance in order to ensure the appropriate preparations can be made.

The Hunger Banquet is designed to inform participants about the daily reality of the world’s population in terms of food resources, which finds a majority living on subsistence or less amounts of food, according to Robin Fife, assistant professor of social science. The event is sponsored by the Bonner Leaders student program and the College’s Center for Civic Advancement.

“We hope through this event to raise awareness and encourage people to get involved in creating solutions by demonstrating the hunger, poverty and injustice that exists in the world,” said Fife.

At the hunger banquet, a large meal is prepared and divided among the guests in proportions that represent the number of people in high-, middle- and low-income groups and dramatizes the inequitable distribution of food and resources in today’s world. The largest group represents the low income group and may be instructed to sit on the floor, so participants are encouraged to dress in a casual and comfortable way.

Few people leave a hunger banquet with satisfied stomachs but hopefully participants go away filled with a new understanding about the problem of world hunger, said Fife.

“A hunger banquet is a reenactment of the current state of lack of equity in resources around the world.”

Bonner Leader Kallie Smith, a sophomore physical education major, said the students are helping to organize the event to raise awareness of world hunger issues on campus and in the community. This year Smith said they are also focusing on climate change and how it directly affects the world’s food supply.

For more information or to register to participate, contact the Center for Civic Advancement at 423-636-7372.

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A group of home-schooled children had the opportunity last week to learn about the community’s history and how the past affects current society during a day-camp at the Doak House Museum.

Youngsters from the ages of six to 12 spent four days discovering what it was like to live in the 1800s through a variety of hands-on activities including making a scarecrow for the Doak House garden. The campers also learned about one of the ways information about the past is uncovered through an archeological dig, in which they uncovered shards of pottery and other remains of daily life of past generations of the Doaks.

The museum on the campus of Tusculum College will offer in the near future additional enrichment opportunities for youth in the region to discover the wonders of history through upcoming camps. An art camp for home-schoolers is scheduled in May, and the annual summer camp, open to all children ages 6-12, will be offered two separate times in June. Sessions are from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in each of the camps.

“Light, Color, Motion,” an art day camp, will be offered Monday through Thursday, May 24-27, for home-school students ages 12-16. Participants will learn about the art and artists of the 19th century with a focus on the Impressionism movement, its artists and their influences.

The camp will be led by Dr. Fran Church, art program coordinator in the Fine Arts Department at Alabama A & M University. Dr. Church holds a bachelor’s degree in art and art history from Middle Tennessee State University and two graduate degrees from the University of Oregon, where she completed a doctorate in art education in 1993. She has taught art lessons to students on every grade level and has almost 20 years experience in college instruction. Dr. Church has exhibited her papier-mâché and mixed media sculpture in juried shows in Alabama, Tennessee and Oregon.

Participants in the camp will learn how art fit into a classical 19th century education, discover the inspiration and techniques of the Impressionists, make art “en plein aire” (in the open air), learn how to properly mount and display works, make beautiful art to take home and create a show of student work for friends and family.

Coming in June will be two sessions of the “Ready, Set, Explore!” summer camp for children ages 6-12. The first camp will be offered Monday through Thursday, June 7-10. A second camp session will follow Monday through Thursday, June 21-24.

The summer camps, which are open to children ages 6-12, will allow students to learn how history shapes the society of today through a variety of hands-on activities.

During the summer camp, students will discover how history is used in daily life, learn how archeologists find clues from the past, become a history detective by learning how to “read” a building, make arts and craft projects and participate in fun and games that students from the 19th century would have enjoyed.

Cost for each of the camps is $85 per participant. If more than one child is attending from a family, the charge for the second and each additional child is $75.  Campers are to provide their own sack lunch. Snacks are included in the tuition cost.

For more information about the camps, please contact the Doak House Museum at 423-636-8554 or e-mail dboyd@tusculum.edu.

Pictured below, the group of day campers poses with “Professor” the scarecrow with camp leaders Dollie Boyd and Leah Walker; one group begins their archeological dig (center), and one camper finds that artifacts are not all that one can find in an archeological dig (bottom).

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Families are invited to enjoy the changing seasons and a fun time together in a uniquely 19th century atmosphere at “Spring Fling” on Saturday, April 10, at the Doak House Museum.

“Spring Fling” will be filled with activities for all ages from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the museum on the Tusculum College campus. The event is free and open to the public.

Enjoy such seasonal activities as an egg roll, egg races and dancing around the Maypole on the lawn of the Doak House, the home of one of Tusculum College’s co-founders, the Rev. Samuel Witherspoon Doak, and built in the early 1800s.

Storytelling, games from the 19th century and face painting are among the other activities planned for the event.

Refreshments will be available for purchase.

The Doak House Museum Shop, featuring 19th century toys and collectibles, will also be open during the event.

Those who have not visited the Doak House previously are extended a special invitation to the event. Tours will be given of the Doak House, which offers a window to the past that not only played a significant role in the life of the College but in the community as well.

For more information about “Spring Fling,” please contact the Doak House Museum at 423-636-8554 or e-mail lwalker@tusculum.edu.

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