Race, Culture, and Ethnicity Workshop at Salem State

On December 10th The Pharnal Longus Race, Culture, and Ethnicity High School workshop will be taking place at Salem State University. This workshop has been going on for 20 years and was created by Dr. Pharnul Longus. After his passing, the workshop was officially named after him.

According to Erga Dormevil, a former student of Longus’ and a facilitator and promoter of this event, Longus created this workshop because he “saw the need to create a safe space for students and adults to learn about and discuss issues related to race, culture and ethnicity” as well as “to provide us with an opportunity to step out of our ‘boxes’, to learn about different cultures and celebrate our differences instead of allowing our differences to divide us.” Dormevil adds to this saying that the workshop’s goal is for people to be informed “on the root of racism and provides [people] with the tools that we need to undo [it].”

Currently the workshop is looking for participants to attend the event. Each high school can have 5-25 participants as long as there is one teacher present for every five students. On the brochure promoting this event it also mentions that the participants should represent various groups at the high school. The educators who participate in this will get PDP’s and CEU’s. PDP’s are are professional development points for teachers and educators and CEU’s are credits that social workers earn for “continuing education units” for their license.

At the event participants would be provided with breakfast and lunch.  The participants will be mixed with students from different schools and go into smaller groups to learn about different concepts, including discrimination, through different activities.  Dormevil adds to this saying that “at the end of the workshop participants earn a certificate which looks great on college applications and resumes.”

She ends saying that “participants will have the opportunity to experience an invaluable workshop, make new friends, learn about different cultures,and gain knowledge to help undo racism.” If you are interested in participating at this event you contact Dormevil at 1RACEinc@gmail.com. You can also contact Luz Longus, the head of registrations at LBlongus@comcast.net.

An earlier version of this article had ad Luz Longus spelled as Luz Longo.