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Millennium Fund for Children provides grant for workshops
By Bill Lilley
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Tuesday, Dec 23, 2008
Diana Millirons has come to one definite conclusion after skeptically accepting the role of adviser of the Harmony Multicultural Organization at Kenmore High School more than a decade ago.
''I really didn't have much of an idea of what I was getting into at that time,'' Millirons said, ''but I know without a doubt 13 years later that Kenmore High School is a much better place to be because of Harmony.''
Millirons, who is Kenmore's in-school suspension supervisor, was so moved by what she had seen transpire between the students in the club and their peers in the school that she knew she had to expand Harmony's reach.
The Harmony group meets each day during the fourth period of school for a noncredit class. It strives to educate and to build bridges between different cultures and races to enhance relationships.
It also challenges students to identify diversity issues within their school and community and to recognize and deal with stereotypes and prejudice.
Harmony, which requires members to maintain at least a 2.0 grade-point average, had performed one workshop a year during the first 12 years.
''One was great,'' Millirons said, ''but two would be a lot greater. It's just had such a positive effect on the students here at Kenmore that I wanted it to touch students at other schools.''
Funding for the expansion of Harmony's workshops, however, was a potential problem.
Then Harmony received a grant from the Millennium Fund for Children.
''A past committee member told me about the Millennium Fund and I sent in an application,'' Millirons said. ''I was thrilled when I found out we would be getting a grant. It's simply wonderful that we'll be able to have two workshops at Park United Methodist Church.''
The Millennium Fund's $1,850 grant will help cover the costs of renting the church, providing food, buying workshop materials and training the facilitators who will run the two workshops.
Both workshops will be free to the students.
The 10 facilitators will be trained in an all-day seminar Jan. 12 by professionals from the Diversity Center in Cleveland.
Trainers from the Diversity Center will run the workshops.
''The 10 facilitators, who will be Kenmore students, will be trained to handle the small-group sessions, which will deal with having healthy relationships and stereotyping,'' said Millirons, an educational assistant for 26 years.
The first workshop will be staged Jan. 29 at the church for Kenmore students only. The second will feature the same themes and will be held April 24 at the church on Kenmore Boulevard.
''We are going to be reaching out to students from schools all over Akron to come and help make their high school a better place,'' said Millirons, who said the six other Akron public high schools, along with Copley, St. Vincent-St. Mary, Archbishop Hoban and some Cleveland high schools, would be invited to help expand Harmony's scope.
The funding also will help to provide transportation for the Harmony Multicultural Organization's anti-bullying program, which it performs at middle and elementary schools.
Millirons said Kenmore's Harmony group started with six students in 1995 and has grown to 20. The students also volunteer with the American Red Cross to serve the homeless, at Akron Children's Hospital, with Respect ambassadors to help deal with relationship problems in the school, and by singing Christmas carols at nursing homes.
''The kids in Harmony over the years have done a lot to help make Kenmore a better place to be a high school student,'' Millirons said. ''We've grown a lot over the years and I'm convinced there will always be a need for a program like this.
''I think it's simply wonderful that we're getting the opportunity to expand the program to include students from other schools. A program like Harmony needs to be shared with as many students as possible and the Millennium Fund is helping us to reach out and share it.''
Bill Lilley can be reached at 330-996-3811 or blilley@thebeaconjournal.com.
Diana Millirons has come to one definite conclusion after skeptically accepting the role of adviser of the Harmony Multicultural Organization at Kenmore High School more than a decade ago.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Posted 10:26 AM, 12/23/2008
Keep up the great work Millirons! APS needs more educators like you!
m, m
Posted 10:29 AM, 12/23/2008
How is it that, years past the civil rights movement, that we still 'need' these types of programs ???? Are minority groups pushed into believing they are 'less' and always in need of extra assistance? I see too many black leaders like Rev Al and Jesse Jackson pushing programs to help blacks vote. Come on. Is voting that hard that the color of your skin prevents you from knowing how to vote ???? Odd that these same leaders condemn Bill Cosby for being 'so hard', telling black America to listen and do well in school. Telling lack teen girls to stop having babies out of wedlock, ect. Odd that where we should have no need for this program, there is a myth perpetuated by leaders that the minority is so in need of affirmation, assistance, and preferential treatment. People, it is 2008, not 1958. Times HAVE changed. Stop hanging onto old myths.
Posted 10:46 AM, 12/23/2008
@David...
"It strives to educate and to build bridges between different cultures and races to enhance relationships.
It also challenges students to identify diversity issues within their school and community and to recognize and deal with stereotypes and prejudice."
What is wrong with that objective?
As far as why there is a "need" to have these programs. I think we need as many programs that have a positive impact on children as we can. Is there anything wrong with a group of kids getting together to discuss other cultures?
Tallmadge, OH
Posted 11:00 AM, 12/23/2008
I think this is a small step in the right direction to correcting the growing problem of family moral values in the Akron public schools. The real problem is kids in the Akron schools have no idea what familial relationships are all about. 80% of them don't live with their mother & father. Many don't even know who their birth father is and their siblings may have aa different father each. That makes it really rough to live a normal life and get educated. The challenge for the 21st century is how to get blacks to behave in a normal moral family way. The person who figures that out will be a genius.
Riverside, CA
Posted 11:57 AM, 12/23/2008
Diana, this program is all good. I commend you for being committed to helping our young people. Today, many kids of all races and ethnic groups need positive roles models from the village. Building bridges that foster harmony and erase the ignorance of stereotypes and bigotry will only make it a better place for the future of the world in which they will live.
Thunderbird Class of "71
