MEDIA ADVISORY
                                                                    April 9, 2002

Contact:
Terry Hapney, Director of Communications
Office: (740) 351-3112; FAX: (740) 351-3179
E-mail: thapney@shawnee.edu

To news directors, editors, producers, and reporters:

A celebration focused on young children will bring 300 area children to the campus of Shawnee State University Thursday.

This week is national “Week of The Young Child,” and Shawnee State University (SSU) is participating in the celebration in many ways. In conjunction with Scioto County Head Start, the Carousel Center, South Central Ohio ESC's cooperative preschools, and Scioto County Even Starts, SSU’s Children’s Learning Center (CLC) will be hosting and sponsoring a number of activities focused on the national theme of “Children’s Opportunities…Our Responsibilities.”

The main event of the “Week of the Young Child,” a Children’s Fair, will take place Thursday, April 11 outside on the Alumni Green on the SSU campus. The fair will include booths such as parachutes, Studio 104 dancing, obstacle courses, story time, chalk walk, and silly songs. A magician, bubble machine, and many local mascots will also be present to provide entertainment. Participating children will receive gift bags, suckers, temporary tattoos, free t-shirts and Pizza Hut and Domino’s Pizza coupons.

For parents, an information center will be set up and will include information on Head Start, Southern Ohio Medical Center, Ohio Kids’ Cards, and Even Start. The fair will begin at 10 a.m. and conclude at noon. Sponsors of the event include the SSU Children's Learning Center, Pizza Hut, Roger W. Davis Funeral Home, Domino’s Pizza, Montgomery's Custom Screen, and Pepsi.

Cindy Ferguson, director of the CLC, said it is SSU’s hope to build a broad base of support for early childhood programs that nurture young children's early learning and growth. ”Truly, children's opportunities are our responsibilities," she said.

For more information on the week's activities, contact Ferguson at (740) 351-3252. Interested individuals can also find out additional information about “Week of the Young Child” on the Internet by visiting www.naeyc.org . If you plan to attend and would like a map of campus and additional information, please contact the SSU Office of Communications at (740) 351-3112.

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