Fifth-graders ready to engage in 35th annual Martin Luther King Jr. children's program

The Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls school districts, the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations (KCTFHR) and North Idaho College will co-sponsor the 35th annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 5th Grade Children’s Program on Thursday in the Schuler Performing Arts Center at North Idaho College.

This year’s program will feature dance, musical performances by the children, children’s essays, Pastor Happy Watkins’ reciting excerpts from Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, and Stu Cabe of the Ovation Company sharing his story of the “The Big Elephant and the Little Elephant” that is a message featuring a positive school environment stressing courage, values, safety and kindness to the students.

Administrators from the two school districts and the KCTFHR Board president echoed similar support for the long-standing program.

Post Falls School Superintendent Jerry Keane stated: “Our 5th grade students have been blessed to participate in the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Kids program over the past 34 years. The students learn a great deal about how to treat one another and all people from the adult presenters but even more from their peers.”

Coeur d’Alene School Superintendent Steven Cook expressed the district’s support: “Our students benefit from learning about the legacy of the civil rights movement and our on going focus on reducing and eliminating prejudice through education.”

KCTFHR president Christie Wood stated the human rights group’s support since the inception of the program when she said: “In the world of children, there is no color that prohibits opportunity, love, justice and inclusion. This annual program teaches us that lesson.”

The annual program will soon have reached over 38,000 fifth grade students over the three and one-half decades.

The Coeur d’Alene kids program will begin at 9:30 a.m. followed by the Post Falls program at 11:30 a.m.