In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Women’s Right to Vote, the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes invites all to attend a reception and unveiling for the new exhibit/panel on Friday, October 8th at 3:30pm. The Center will honor unsung heroes and African American suffragists Carrie Langston Hughes and Mamie Dillard with a reception including wine and cheese, fruit and dessert, and music. This event is sponsored by a grant from Humanities Kansas and will be followed up in November with a cultural arts presentation on women’s suffrage and a community book read, Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.”
About Humanities Kansas: Humanities Kansas is an independent nonprofit spearheading a movement of ideas to empower the people of Kansas to strengthen their communities and our democracy. Since 1972, our pioneering programming, grants, and partnerships have documented and shared stories to spark conversation and generate insights. Together with our partners and supporters, we inspire all Kansans to draw on history, literature, ethics, and culture to enrich their lives and serve the communities and state we all proudly call home. Visit humanitieskansas.org.
The Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes is located a 1 S. Main, Fort Scott.
On July 28, the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes began a new exhibit entitled”Fort Scott’s Frontline Workers”, highlighting groups of local COVID-19 workers.
Hours at the center, located on Main Street at Wall Street in downtown Fort Scott are Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The exhibition is pictorial with text that honors first responders from four local agencies, health care workers from five local agencies, and educators in five local public and private schools.
Lowell Milken Center’s Frontline Workers Exhibit, July 2021. Submitted photo.
“Contacts were made to all the different agencies, we received input from several administrators and staff,” Cathy Werling, spokesperson for LMC said.
Cathy Werling is a children’s book author at the Lowell Milken Center For Unsung Heroes in Fort Scott, who has published several books depicting unsung heroes at a young child’s level of understanding.
This new exhibit has been made possible with funds received from a Fort Scott Area Community Foundation grant, according to an LMC press release.
“Work began on plans for the project in October of 2020 after we knew we received the Fort Scott Area Community Foundation grant,” Werling said. “Contacting and interviewing all of the various frontline worker’s staff began in January of 2021.”
“The Lowell Milken Center’s Fort Scott’s Frontline Heroes project highlights frontline professions within our community who have been directly dealing with pandemic issues in order to provide safe and direct action for our citizens,” according to the press release.
Law enforcement photo from the exhibit.
The following are recognized: firefighters, law enforcement officers, emergency medical services workers, health care workers from Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas, Ascension Via Christi Emergency Department, Southeast Kansas Multi-County Health Department, and long-term care facilities, assisted/independent living facilities, and local teachers/administrators at schools.
Educators. Photo from the exhibit.
“The LMC believes these groups of workers are truly Fort Scott’s unsung heroes, as they have given so much of themselves to our community’s citizens during the pandemic and continue to do so,” according to the press release. “We encourage all Fort Scott area citizens to support these heroes by viewing the new exhibits at the Lowell Milken Center, sharing words of gratitude and support in the LMC guest book and through the LMC’s social media pages on Facebook – www.facebook.com/LowellMilkenCenter, Twitter – https://twitter.com/LowellMilkenCtr, and Instagram – www.instagram.com/LowellMilkenCtr.”
Emergency Medical Services workers. Photo from the exhibit.
Lowell Milken Center Announces New Banner Exhibits Honoring Fort Scott’s Frontline Workers
The Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes invites all community members to visit the Center beginning Wednesday, July 28, 2021, to see its newest exhibit, “Fort Scott’s Frontline Heroes.” Three new banners will be part of the exhibit, highlighting three groups of frontline workers – First Responders, Health Care Workers, and Educators. This new exhibit has been made possible with funds received from a Fort Scott Area Community Foundation grant.
The Lowell Milken Center’s “Fort Scott’s Frontline Heroes” project highlights frontline professions within our community who have been directly dealing with pandemic issues in order to provide safe and direct action for our citizens. The following three groups have been recognized in the new banner exhibits: FIRST RESPONDERS (Firefighters, Law Enforcement Officers, EMS Workers), HEALTH CARE WORKERS (CHCSEK, Ascension/Via Christi ER, Southeast Kansas Multi-County Health Department, Long Term Care Facilities, Assisted/Independent Living Facilities), and EDUCATORS (Public and Private Schools).
The LMC believes these groups of workers are truly Fort Scott’s “unsung heroes,” as they have given so much of themselves to our community’s citizens during the pandemic and continue to do so. We encourage all Fort Scott area citizens to support these heroes by viewing the new exhibits at the Lowell Milken Center, sharing words of gratitude and support in the LMC guest book and through the LMC’s social media pages on Facebook – www.facebook.com/LowellMilkenCenter, Twitter – https://twitter.com/LowellMilkenCtr, and Instagram – www.instagram.com/LowellMilkenCtr.
Fort Scott City Manager Jeremy Frazier presented the keys to the city to the Lowell Milken Center Fellows. Front row: LMC Fellows Jennifer Braverman, J.D. Bowman, Konstantinos Kovoros, and Lauren Sepulveda. Back row: Chamber Director Lindsey Madison, City Manager Jeremy Frazier, LMC Fellows Megan Helberg and Leslie Sullivan, Tourism Director Jackson Tough, Community Development Director Allyson Turvey. Submitted photo.
2021 Lowell Milken Center Fellows Receive Keys to the City
The Lowell Milken Center (LMC) for Unsung Heroes in Fort Scott, Kansas has awarded its 2021 Fellowship to 14 educators. As part of their week-long experience in Fort Scott, the six fellows for June 27 – July 2 were given the key to the city by Fort Scott City Manager, Jeremy Frazier, along with Community Development Manager, Allyson Turvey, and Director of Economic Development, Rachel Pruitt. (Eight other Fellows were in Fort Scott last week.)
Upon the presentation of the keys, City Manager Jeremy Frazier said, “The City of Fort Scott is honored to present keys to the city to the 2021 Lowell Milken Center Fellows. It is inspiring that these top educators have come to Fort Scott to cultivate their passion for education and will return to their communities to continue the work of the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes. People matter and the recognition of the many amazing contributions of unsung heroes is an important undertaking that is often underserved. Through the sharing of these inspiring unsung heroes’ stories, the world will be a better place.”
The LMC Fellowship is awarded on the basis of merit to educators who have distinguished themselves in teaching respect and understanding through project-based learning or who have the potential for this distinction. The Center selects exemplary teachers from across America and around the world, drawn from a variety of disciplines, to collaborate on projects that discover, develop, and communicate the stories of Unsung Heroes in history.
John-David Bowman taught for 14 years at the high school level and also spent 3 years teaching at Arizona State University. His favorite courses include IB Political Theory, IB Theory of Knowledge, and AP US History. Bowman has a BA in History and a BA in Political Science from ASU, and a MA in Secondary Education with an emphasis in History from NAU.
Bowman believes that there are tremendous things going on in Arizona schools and feels there a need to celebrate those accomplishments, while continually striving to find ways to improve whenever possible. He focuses on student relationships as the foundation of his teaching philosophy. Bowman was Arizona’s 2015 Teacher of the Year and the 2017 Arizona History Teacher of the Year. He is from Glendale, Arizona.
Jennifer Braverman, Maple Shade, New Jersey, is an artivist who combines education and visual art and actively engages her audience in contemporary issues. Braverman’s art has been featured in solo and group exhibitions locally and nationally. She is an author and illustrator for two educational coloring books and currently is teaching AP Studio Art, Digital Mixed Media, and many other courses to grades 7-12 at Maple Shade High School.
Braverman has been an adjunct in the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies department at The College of New Jersey since 2013, teaching Gender, Pop Culture, and LGBTQ Issues in K-12 Education. She has supervised over 50 independent projects in which students focus on social justice and education. Braverman was named the 2013 Burlington County Outstanding Woman of the Year in the Arts and recognized as a member of the 2014 Inaugural Class of 40 under 40 for community leadership. She was also the 2016 Burlington County Teacher of the Year, the 2017 Moorestown-Masonic Lodge Teacher of the Year, and is a Certified Welcoming Schools National Facilitator for the Human Rights Campaign. She is passionate about teaching and making the classroom a place for all students to thrive. To learn more about Jennifer Braverman please visit www.jenniferbraverman.co
2020 Nebraska Teacher of the Year, Megan McNeil Helberg, proudly lives in rural Taylor, Nebraska, where she taught English to 8th, 11th, and 12th-grade students at Burwell Public School. This coming school year, she will be returning to teach 7-12th grade English at her alma mater, Loup County Public School in Taylor, NE. After growing up on a ranch in this area of the Sandhills, with only ten people in her graduating class, Megan feels strongly about exposing her students to various cultures and ways of life.
Sharing Holocaust and genocide education is an important passion for Helberg. In 2013, upon receiving a Fund for Teachers fellowship, Megan used the opportunity to visit Holocaust-related sites throughout Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic. She also used the grant money to purchase class sets of Holocaust literature resources for her school. She was named a Museum Teacher Fellow for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in 2016 and has spent extensive time at the USHMM, learning from world-renowned historians, authors, and survivors. Helberg saw a lack of exposure in her small town, so she founded a travel club for the school and community members to travel together and bridge the gap between school and community. She has spent time in Rwanda, Africa, studying the 1994 genocide and in the Amazon Rain Forest, living with an indigenous tribe. She brings her stories and the experiences from her travels back to her classroom in the heart of Nebraska. The main mantra in Helberg’s classroom is, “Look for the good: in others, in your community, and in yourself. If you do not see any good, CREATE it.”
Fort Scott Tourism Director Jackson Tough, City Park Committee Members Beth Nuss and Elaine Buerge, LMC Communications Director Karen Wilterding, LMC Program Director Megan Felt, LMC Executive Director Norm Conard, City Manager Jeremy Frazier, Chamber Director Lindsey Madison, Owner of Dreamscapes Innovations Josh Baldwin, City Economic Development Rachel Pruitt, and Community Development Director Allyson Turvey. Submitted photo.
The Lowell Milken Center Breaks Ground for New Unsung Heroes Park
Construction on the Lowell Milken Center’s new Unsung Heroes Park has officially begun, with groundbreaking taking place Tuesday, June 29, 2021, at 11:00 a.m.
With this much-anticipated expansion to the center and an opportunity to be part of Fort Scott’s downtown revitalization, the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes is anxious to share this newest resource with both the community and the many visitors that come to Fort Scott.
“We are so proud of our latest addition to the Lowell Milken Center and to downtown Fort Scott,” said Norm Conard, the executive director. “Our vision is to have an impact on our community and the entire region in many different and positive ways. We appreciate the benevolent funding from the Lowell Milken Family Foundation and other significant contributions from generous donors such as Timken and others.”
The Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes (LMC) completed its main building in 2016 at the corner of Fort Scott’s Wall and Main Streets.
In 2018, a park was begun in the adjacent space south of the building in conjunction with members of the city’s park committee: Beth Nuss, Elaine Buerge, Carolyn Sinn, and Bernita Hill.
The LMC will now complete the park, called the “Unsung Heroes Park,” featuring outdoor Unsung Hero exhibits with interactive story rails, a walking trail, an enhanced water feature, and beautiful landscaping with bench seating.
The objectives of the park are to provide a place for visitors to enjoy the pleasant outdoor scenery, learn about unsung heroes, and offer a centralized community gathering space for programs and activities, while also complementing the downtown area.
The new Lowell Milken Center’s Unsung Heroes Park is expected to be completed in mid-August by Dreamscape Innovations, Inc.
The park will also feature the talents of teachers who have visited Fort Scott as past LMC Fellows and have helped design the park exhibits that will share new stories of Unsung Heroes.
According to Community Development Manager Allyson Turvey, “The Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes is truly one of the great assets of Fort Scott and enriches our entire community. We are so thrilled to see the addition of the Unsung Heroes Park which will create a vibrant green space in our historic downtown and will benefit not only our local community but the thousands of tourists that visit Fort Scott each year.”
Since its inception, the Lowell Milken Center locally has hosted over 80,000 visitors from every state in the country and has impacted over 2 million students through its various programs.
The LMC was established in 2007 and has expanded its reach nationally to include international programs and visitors from 102 countries to the LMC in Fort Scott.
The Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes is an educational non-profit that discovers, develops and communicates the stories of Unsung Heroes.
The Rubin* and Gloria Feldman Family Educational Institute of the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum recently awarded $2,350.00 to the Life in a Jar Foundation and Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes. The monies will support a museum display for “Unsung Hero Pavel Weiner and the student project “Writing to Resist.” Ronda Hassig serves as project director.
Norm Conard, Executive Director of the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes, explained “Pavel Weiner was a teenager that showed immense courage while imprisoned by the Nazis at the Terezin concentration camp. He is a role model for all young people to use whatever means necessary to resist tyranny, even something as simple as a pencil and your diary. During this pandemic his story is even more important!”
About the Institute and Holocaust museum
The Rubin* and Gloria Feldman Family Educational Institute of the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum works to empower every person to stand up to hate, bigotry, racism, anti-Semitism, and injustice in their everyday lives. The St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum honors the family of local St. Louis survivors Gloria Kaplan Feldman and her brother David Kaplan. The museum recently broke ground for a new $21 million expansion to the museum!
About the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes
The Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes works to transform classrooms and communities through student-driven projects that discover Unsung Heroes from history and teach the power of one to create positive change. Everyone, especially our young people deserve role models who demonstrate courage, compassion and respect. Pavel Weiner is just such a hero!
Evergy recently awarded $1,500 to the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes in support of the “Unsung Heroes of the Environment (Role Models for America’s Youth)” museum display. Ronda Hassig serves as project director. Norm Conard, Executive Director of the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes, said “Jacob Valentine II was an unsung hero that worked his whole life as an advocate for the environment and the species that live in it. Exhibiting Jacob Valentine II in our museum serves as a powerful role model for everyone who sees it. We are excited to share his story!”
About Evergy
Evergy wants to be a good neighbor, civic leader, and community partner in the communities they serve. They want communities to understand that the commitment they have to powering the lives of their customers goes beyond simply providing safe, clean, reliable energy. Evergy supports programs designed to invest in the education of tomorrow’s workforce to the skills and knowledge required are available to enable Evergy to thrive in the future.
About the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes
The Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes works to transform classrooms and communities through student-driven projects that discover Unsung Heroes from history and teach the power of one to create positive change. Everyone, especially our young people deserve role models who demonstrate courage, compassion and respect. Jacob Valentine II was just such a hero!
FORT SCOTT, KS, (September 16, 2020) – Washburn Rural Middle School student Allison Reed just learned via Zoom that she is the $6,000 Grand Prize winner of the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes’ annual Discovery Award competition. Through research and a compelling documentary, Reed’s entry “All the World Loves a Baby” explores the actions of Martin Couney, who in 1920 determined to save premature babies, assumed by the medical establishment to be a lost cause. By placing the tiny infants in incubators displayed in carnival sideshows to fund the effort, Couney saved thousands of lives. Hospitals eventually followed suit.
According to Norm Conard, executive director of the Lowell Milken Center (LMC), All the World Loves a Baby is an exceptional project in every way. Allison Reed has assembled a documentary which shows a brilliant quality of work. The story of Martin Couney is unique, unsung and inspirational. We look forward to expanding this story in an exhibit for our Hall of Unsung Heroes.” Conard also congratulated Reed’s teachers Lindsey Dowell and Alice Bertels.
From its base in Fort Scott, Kansas, LMC has awarded elementary, middle and high school students $13,000 in cash prizes in its 2019-20 Discovery Award competition. The international competition is designed to inspire students by prompting them to conduct primary and secondary research projects on unsung heroes from history whose accomplishments remain largely unknown to the public.
The $2,000 Second Place award has gone to Elaine Jiao, Dayoung (Grace) Lee, and Zara Qizilbash from Jericho High School in Jericho, New York. The students combed through court case literature, utilized book research, conducted interviews and created a documentary to tell the story of unsung hero Ann Hopkins in their entry Ann Hopkins: Breaking the Glass Ceiling in Employment. Hopkins was denied partnership at the accounting firm Price Waterhouse for not dressing or acting feminine enough. In 1982, she sued and her case made it to the Supreme Court, where it was settled in her favor establishing a precedent for discrimination in the workplace. [Teacher Valerie Conklin.]
The $2,000 Outstanding High School Project award has gone to Megan Allacher, a Seaman High School student in Topeka, KS. Allacher utilized Internet research and created a website to tell the story of unsung hero Jackie Ormes in her entry Jackie Ormes: First African American Female Cartoonist. Through her art, Ormes portrayed real-life issues African Americans faced and was an activist for racial as well as gender equality. [Teachers Nathan McAlister and Susan Sittenauer.]
The $2,000 Outstanding Middle School Project award has gone to Jericho Middle School student Kaitlyn Choi in Jericho, NY. Conducting research and interviews, Choi developed a website to tell the story of unsung hero James Reese Europe: The Jazz Lieutenant. Europe not only was the first African American officer to lead troops in World War I, he was also a composer, conductor and organizer who created a labor union and contracting agency for African American entertainers. Leading a wartime brass band in France, he introduced jazz to the European continent. [Teacher Konstantine Kovoros.]
The $1,000 Outstanding Elementary School Project award has gone to Nicholas Turco, a Carolina Park Elementary School student in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. Turco’s research led to his documentary Discoveries for the Centuries, sharing the struggles and achievements of unsung hero Mary Anning. Anning defied sexism in the scientific community as a successful fossil collector and paleontologist who made several discoveries that changed paleontology forever. [Teacher Mary Huffman.]
The $13,000 in cash prizes can be used in any way students see fit. Due to COVID-19, students were notified about their winnings via video call.
LMC’s Discovery Award provides U.S. and international students in grades 4 through 12 a unique opportunity to use their artistic talents to develop projects that showcase the power one person has to make positive change in the world. Projects can take the form of documentary/multimedia, performance or website and require robust research, an annotated bibliography and a process paper. The unsung heroes’ stories must show potential for life beyond the development of the project, and an ability to inspire students and others to take sustainable actions that carry out the legacies of their subjects.
“Real heroes tower and guide,” said LMC Founder Lowell Milken. “But their stories need to be discovered and heard. And when we do, we have the opportunity to motivate new generations to aspire to values that are essential during the challenging times we face individually, as a nation and as a world community.”
Submissions for the next competition season will open mid-2021.
Established in 2007, the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes (LMC) discovers, develops and communicates the stories of unsung heroes who have made a profound and positive impact on history, yet are largely unrecognized by contemporary generations. LMC has reached over 2,000,000 students and 11,000 schools in all 50 states and countries around the world. Learn more about LMC and the Discovery Award. Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
The Lowell Milken Center is located at the corner of First and Wall Street and is the site of the Fort Scott Writing Festival.
A collaborative project to encourage creative writing in the community is taking place this Saturday, Oct. 19 at Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes at Main and Wall Street.
“It was a culmination of several peoples ideas in thinking about how to support and encourage writing in our community,” Jan Hedges, owner of Hedgehog.INK, said. “Writing is an aspect of the arts that is not often recognized.”
The event is co-sponsored by the Bourbon County Arts Council, Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce, Books and Grannies Book Store and Hedgehog.INK!
It is a one-day event for gathering published authors to share their writing and publishing experiences with the community.
The morning session is a series of one-hour workshops that is open to high school and local college students as well as adults.
There is no cost for students to attend the workshops.
In the afternoon, there will be a fair for authors to showcase their work and answer questions from aspiring writers.
Also in the afternoon there will be three mini-lessons, 30 minutes each for the public to view.
Program Schedule
Registration: 8:30 and refreshments (inside front doors)
Opening Remarks: 8:50 Little Theater
Finding Your Writing Plan – 9:00 Little Theater
Presenter R.J. Thesman
Are you stuck between writer’s block and the fun of procrastination? Maybe you’re not blocked. You just don’t have a writing plan. Finding Your Writing Plan helps you develop a discipline for your writing craft and keeps you from avoiding that blank page. Especially for bi-vocational writers who work another job, Finding Your Writing Plan gives you a structure for each day’s work. You can still nurture your creative side by choosing more than one plan or by changing your plan, depending on your circumstances. RJ Thesman will present 12 different options for your writing plan with best practices to help you finish your Work in Progress and move toward your publishing dreams.
“Writing FOR a Child Requires Thinking LIKE a Child” – 9:00 Conference Room
Presenter: Cathy Werling
Have you often thought you would like to write a children’s book? With the current self-publishing opportunities available, the goal of writing and publishing a children’s book has become much more attainable. Through this presentation, you will learn how to get started, some important steps you need to consider before you actually start writing, and some available resources to help your children’s book become a reality.
Cathy Werling is a retired elementary educator, who works part-time at the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes. The opportunity to provide positive role models for children led to the Center’s Unsung Heroes book series for children. Cathy is the author of the first four books in the series, with plans to continue sharing more of the amazing stories of Unsung Heroes through additional books. Her goal is to, not only provide inspirational role models for elementary students, but to encourage them to be people who can also make a positive difference in the world around them.
* * * * * * * * *
Self Publishing – 10:00 Little Theater
Presenter: Sally Freeman Jadlow
Come learn how to publish your own book, step-by-step, in paperback or ebook throughAmazon.com. Handouts will accompany the class.
Sally Jadlow has published eleven books which have gone through the process Amazon offers authors. She writes award-winning historical fiction, inspirational short stories, non-fiction, devotionals and poetry. Sally has also been published in many magazine articles and anthologies. She teaches writing for the the Kansas City Writers Group in the spring and fall.
KnowYourSources – 10:00 Conference Room
Presenter: Ronda Hassig
Primary sources can be mysterious, exciting, and lead to creative writing at its finest. If you want to write non-fiction or historical fiction you will need to know your sources! When you leave this session, you will know what a source is, where to find it, how to use it and how to document it.
Ronda Hassig is a retired Kansas Master Teacher and middle school librarian. She is the author of two books including “The Abduction of Jacob Rote” and “The Greatest Test of Courage.” Ronda loves reading, writing, and walking her three feral dogs!
* * * * * * * * * *
Workshop Drawing – 10:55
Transformative Works & the Online Writing Experience – 11:00 Little Theater
Presenter: Qwen Salsbury
Discussion of the popularity and opportunities in online writing. How to build an online following, locate writing e-communities, and the bridge to publishing. Exploration of the importance of transformative works in society’s need to own its own stories. Presentation by author Qwen Salsbury, Amazon #1 Best-Selling author, whose online works have over 5 million unique hits.
* * * * * * * * * *
Writing the Poetic Image – 11:00 Conference Room
Presenter: Laura Lee Washburn
Laura Lee Washburn will lead this workshop on imagery. Poets will participate in a poetic game as well as write a short lyric or narrative free verse poem.
Washburn is the author of two books of poetry, This Good Warm Place (March Street) and Watching the Contortionists (Palanquin Chapbook Prize). Her poetry has appeared in numerous journals including Poet Lore and The Sun. Harbor Review’s Washburn Chapbook prize is named in her honor. She directs the Creative Writing Program at Pittsburg State.
12:00 – 1:30 Lunch Break
Authors set up for the Authors Fair
Afternoon Mini-Sessions – Conference
1:30 Thomas Yoke
2:15 Kate Emmett-Sweetser
3:00 Jan Hedges
“Why I Just Now Write” – 1:30 Conference Room
Presenter: Tom Yoke
It took me 60 years to fulfill the dream of becoming an author. The roadblocks and obstacles I had to overcome, are the motivation for telling my story. I want to encourage anyone of any age or circumstance to pursue that dream.
The main points of the talk are:
Listening to the right voices
Daring to believe in yourself
Dreaming big dreams
Following your heart’s hidden desire
* * * * * * * * * *
NaNoWriMo and Poem-a-Day: Write. Every. Day. – 2:15 Conference Room
Presenter: Kate Emmett-Sweetser
Though raised by a professor of British literature and a poet, Kate Emmett-Sweetser prefers to write non-fiction. She has worked as a free-lance journalist in both English and Spanish, as a translator, and as a Spanish adjunct at Pittsburg State University. She is currently working on a book about the Jewish families who lived in SE Kansas in the decades following the Civil War. Her biggest challenges are perfectionism and procrastination; she will share ways to adapt fiction- and poetry-writing prompts and goals to all genres of writing.
* * * * * * * * * *
The Art of Journaling – 3:00 Conference Room
Presenter: Jan Hedges
We each have a great deal to write about already tucked in our own heads. Journaling is a way to keep track of and organize these thoughts, musings and ideas. This session will cover the many aspects of journaling, how-to’s, inspiration and motivation. A drawing for a journal will be held at the end of the session.
Jan Hedges is a retired teacher and school administrator. She and her husband Dick opened Hedgehog.INK! Gently Used Books and So Much More… in October 2018. She has dabbled in writing for over 50 years. I write because I must.
* * * * * * * * * *
Author Fair Participants: (Tentative List)
Ronda Hassig Young Adult Historical Fiction
Gerri Hilger Adult Historical Fiction
Sally Freeman Jadlow Adult Christian Living/Memoir/Poetry…
Joyce Love Children/Young Adult Historical Fiction / Devotional
The Fort Scott Writing Festival and Author Fair is October 19, 2019, pre-register by Oct. 15.
at the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes, Main and Wall Street.
The Program Schedule is listed below along with other information regarding the festival.
Registration: 8:30 and refreshments (inside front doors)
Opening Remarks: 8:50 Little Theater
Finding Your Writing Plan – 9:00 Little Theater
Presenter R.J. Thesman
Are you stuck between writer’s block and the fun of procrastination? Maybe you’re not blocked. You just don’t have a writing plan. Finding Your Writing Plan helps you develop a discipline for your writing craft and keeps you from avoiding that blank page. Especially for bi-vocational writers who work another job, Finding Your Writing Plan gives you a structure for each day’s work. You can still nurture your creative side by choosing more than one plan or by changing your plan, depending on your circumstances. RJ Thesman will present 12 different options for your writing plan with best practices to help you finish your Work in Progress and move toward your publishing dreams.
“Writing FOR a Child Requires Thinking LIKE a Child” – 9:00 Conference Room
Presenter: Cathy Werling
Have you often thought you would like to write a children’s book? With the current self-publishing opportunities available, the goal of writing and publishing a children’s book has become much more attainable. Through this presentation, you will learn how to get started, some important steps you need to consider before you actually start writing, and some available resources to help your children’s book become a reality.
Cathy Werling is a retired elementary educator, who works part-time at the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes. The opportunity to provide positive role models for children led to the Center’s Unsung Heroes book series for children. Cathy is the author of the first four books in the series, with plans to continue sharing more of the amazing stories of Unsung Heroes through additional books. Her goal is to, not only provide inspirational role models for elementary students, but to encourage them to be people who can also make a positive difference in the world around them.
* * * * * * * * *
Self Publishing – 10:00 Little Theater
Presenter: Sally Freeman Jadlow
Come learn how to publish your own book, step-by-step, in paperback or ebook throughAmazon.com. Handouts will accompany the class.
Sally Jadlow has published eleven books which have gone through the process Amazon offers authors. She writes award-winning historical fiction, inspirational short stories, non-fiction, devotionals and poetry. Sally has also been published in many magazine articles and anthologies. She teaches writing for the the Kansas City Writers Group in the spring and fall.
KnowYourSources – 10:00 Conference Room
Presenter: Ronda Hassig
Primary sources can be mysterious, exciting, and lead to creative writing at its finest. If you want to write non-fiction or historical fiction you will need to know your sources! When you leave this session, you will know what a source is, where to find it, how to use it and how to document it.
Ronda Hassig is a retired Kansas Master Teacher and middle school librarian. She is the author of two books including “The Abduction of Jacob Rote” and “The Greatest Test of Courage.” Ronda loves reading, writing, and walking her three feral dogs!
* * * * * * * * * *
Workshop Drawing – 10:55
Transformative Works & the Online Writing Experience – 11:00 Little Theater
Presenter: Qwen Salsbury
Discussion of the popularity and opportunities in online writing. How to build an online following, locate writing e-communities, and the bridge to publishing. Exploration of the importance of transformative works in society’s need to own its own stories. Presentation by author Qwen Salsbury, Amazon #1 Best-Selling author, whose online works have over 5 million unique hits.
* * * * * * * * * *
Writing the Poetic Image – 11:00 Conference Room
Presenter: Laura Lee Washburn
Laura Lee Washburn will lead this workshop on imagery. Poets will participate in a poetic game as well as write a short lyric or narrative free verse poem.
Washburn is the author of two books of poetry, This Good Warm Place (March Street) and Watching the Contortionists (Palanquin Chapbook Prize). Her poetry has appeared in numerous journals including Poet Lore and The Sun. Harbor Review’s Washburn Chapbook prize is named in her honor. She directs the Creative Writing Program at Pittsburg State.
12:00 – 1:30 Lunch Break
Authors set up for the Authors Fair
Afternoon Mini-Sessions – Conference
1:30 Thomas Yoke
2:15 Kate Emmett-Sweetser
3:00 Jan Hedges
“Why I Just Now Write” – 1:30 Conference Room
Presenter: Tom Yoke
It took me 60 years to fulfill the dream of becoming an author. The roadblocks and obstacles I had to overcome, are the motivation for telling my story. I want to encourage anyone of any age or circumstance to pursue that dream.
The main points of the talk are:
Listening to the right voices
Daring to believe in yourself
Dreaming big dreams
Following your heart’s hidden desire
* * * * * * * * * *
NaNoWriMo and Poem-a-Day: Write. Every. Day. – 2:15 Conference Room
Presenter: Kate Emmett-Sweetser
Though raised by a professor of British literature and a poet, Kate Emmett-Sweetser prefers to write non-fiction. She has worked as a free-lance journalist in both English and Spanish, as a translator, and as a Spanish adjunct at Pittsburg State University. She is currently working on a book about the Jewish families who lived in SE Kansas in the decades following the Civil War. Her biggest challenges are perfectionism and procrastination; she will share ways to adapt fiction- and poetry-writing prompts and goals to all genres of writing.
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The Art of Journaling – 3:00 Conference Room
Presenter: Jan Hedges
We each have a great deal to write about already tucked in our own heads. Journaling is a way to keep track of and organize these thoughts, musings and ideas. This session will cover the many aspects of journaling, how-to’s, inspiration and motivation. A drawing for a journal will be held at the end of the session.
Jan Hedges is a retired teacher and school administrator. She and her husband Dick opened Hedgehog.INK! Gently Used Books and So Much More… in October 2018. She has dabbled in writing for over 50 years. I write because I must.
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Author Fair Participants: (Tentative List)
Ronda Hassig Young Adult Historical Fiction
Gerri Hilger Adult Historical Fiction
Sally Freeman Jadlow Adult Christian Living/Memoir/Poetry…
Scott KinKade Adult Science Fiction / Fantasy
Joyce Love Children/Young Adult Historical Fiction / Devotional
Eric Reynolds Adult Historical Fiction
Carol Russell Young Adult Historical Fiction
Sally Smith Adult Christian Living
R.J. Thesman Adult Christian Living / Fiction…
Laura Lee Washburn Poetry
Cathy Werling Children Children
Thomas Yoke Adult Fiction
Notes, Inspirations, To-Do’s
Writing Festival
October 19, 2019
8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Activities:
8:30 – 8:50 Registration and Refreshments
8:50 – 9:00 Welcome
9:00 – 12:00 Writing Workshops with experienced published authors – 50 minute break-out sessions
12:00 – 1:30 Lunch Break and set-up for Authors’ Fair
1:30 – 3:30 Authors’ Fair and mini-workshops
(multiple authors will be set-up to market, sign and share with participants their writing journey.)
Pre-Registration due by October 15 –
$35 per Participant Late registration – $45
High School and College students free with current
From left: Blair Felt, Cathy Werling, and Megan Felt sign Mommy Who Was Irena Sendler? books Sept. 19.
Irena Sendler’s story is so inspiring and yet so very sad.
The Polish social worker smuggled Jewish children to safe places as the Jews were being annihilated by the Nazis in World War II.
The story was discovered by three Uniontown High School students 20 years ago and changed the lives of all involved.
Sept. 19 the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes, one of the outshoots of that discovery of Sendler’s story, hosted a book signing.
The book is entitled Mommy Who Was Irena Sendler? by local children’s author Cathy Werling. It is a book that explains the story in a way children can understand.
The book depicts Megan Felt, who was one of the students who discovered Sendler, telling the heartbreaking story one woman’s courage, to her daughter Blair.
“I try to spark conversations,” Werling said. “My books are ones that parents read to their children and answer some of the questions.”
Mommy Who Was Irena Sendler? is the third children’s book in her series about humble heroes.
Werling believes that by sharing these stories, it helps children understand the power of one person to make a positive difference in the world around them.
A panel in the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes tells how Sendler smuggled out the children.A panel in the Lowell Milken Center tells how the center came about.To preserve Sendler’s legacy several books have been written, a Hallmark movie was made and her story is still being depicted in a short play performed around the world.Kellye Barrows and Becky Tourtillot wait in line Sept. 19 to purchase the book Mommy Who Was Irena Sendler? Once purchased, books were then signed by the author, Cathy Werling and the characters depicted in the book, Megan Felt and her daughter, Blair.
The Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes is located in downtown Fort Scott, Kansas at the corner of Wall and Main Street.
For more information:
620-223-1312, or view its Facebook page or the website
Help us celebrate 20 years of “Life in a Jar: the Irena Sendler Project”. Irena Sendler was a Polish Catholic social worker who risked her own life to rescue a significant number of Jewish children during WWII. Her story was unknown for 60 years until high school students from Uniontown, Kansas uncovered its details in September of 1999, and shared Irena’s story with the world. The students wrote a performance that has now been presented more than 375 times across the United States, Canada and Poland. Their goal to bring Irena Sendler’s story to the world continues.
Chamber members and guests are encouraged to attend for networking, community announcements, and to learn about the hosting business or organization.
Members may pay $1 to make an announcement about an upcoming event, special/sale/discount, or news of any kind.
Upcoming Coffees:
September 26 – Diehl Banwart Bolton CPA’s P.A. (70th Anniversary)
October 3 – Gordon Parks Museum (16th Annual Gordon Parks Celebration, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of “The Learning Tree”)
