"Conversation Toward a Brighter Future" talk sparks enthusiasm, spotlights future plans

EDWARDSVILLE - Thursday’s “Conversation Toward a Brighter Future”discussion and High School Fellows Reception at the Mannie Jackson Center For The Humanities was filled with enthusiasm from the student participants and everyone else present.

The area high school students discussed projects they had started in the day of discussing “Conversation Toward a Brighter Future” in line with the four pillars of the MJCFH: “Respect, Dignity, Understanding and Forgiveness.”

MJCFH Executive Director Dr. Ed Hightower beamed with pride during the entire morning as students presented their proposals and plans for the coming year with their work.

“We challenged you to put a proposal around a concern at your school and find a solution to that problem,” he said. “That solution is to be measurable and capable of replication and sustainable.

“You are the future. You are the individuals who are creating a new discuss, a discuss that will permeate and be emulated across the country, whereby other school districts and communities will pick up what you have done.”

Hightower talked of how U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin visited MJCFH and viewed the research projects the students were doing and was simply “blown away,” by the depth of what he saw.

“He looked at all the projects and abstracts,” Hightower told the audience. “He saw that you have an opportunity to pave the way for a new type of positive conversation for young people.”

Madison County Chairman Alan Dunstan told the students that he and other leaders will eventually be retiring and others are going to have to step up and take over. He said what they are doing with MJCFH and this project are going to pay dividends for the future. He congratulated all the students on such excellent proposals.

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