FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OFFICE OF MEDIA RELATIONS
HEALTHY START ACADEMY
DURHAM, N.C. 27701
JANUARY 19, 2007

CONTACT: ARONDA HILL OR R. TERREL MOORE
(919) 956-5599

HEALTHY START ACADEMY TO HOLD “HIP-HOP SPEAKOUT”
WITH SPECIAL GUEST: ACTOR/RAPPER, CHRISTOPHER ‘PLAY’ MARTIN,
AND SCHOLAR/CULTURAL CRITIC, MARK ANTHONY NEAL

DURHAM, N.C. - Healthy Start Academy, the first charter school established in North Carolina will kick-off its 10 year celebration of “Academic Excellence in Choice Education” with its first annual Hip-Hop Speak Out on Monday, January 22, 2007. The event will begin at 10:00 a.m. in Chamberlain Auditorium on the campus of Healthy Start Academy. The event is free and open to the public.

“We believe our students will benefit from the kind of exchange this panel discussion is bound to inspire”, said Principal Dietrich A.M. Danner. “With the King Holiday celebration just past, and Black History month on the horizon, we thought this would be an opportune time to discuss the relationship between Hip-Hop culture and academic achievement”, Danner said.

Christopher Martin, better known as ‘Play’ from the rap and acting duo, “Kid ‘N Play”, and an artist-in-residence at North Carolina Central University will serve as a panelist along with Cicero Leak and Mike Wilson, producers of the award-winning documentary, “Welcome to Durham USA”. Scholar and cultural critic Mark Anthony Neal, associate professor of Black Popular Culture at Duke University will also serve as a panelist. The purpose of the event is to engage students in a dialogue with university scholars, community activists and city officials to examine the effects of Hip-Hop Culture on academic achievement. A press conference will immediately follow the event.

Healthy Start Academy is located at 807 West Chapel Hill Street. The event is free and open to the public. For more information please contact Ms. Aronda Hill or Mr. Terrell Moore at (919) 956-5599.