Greats of tomorrow become greats of yesterday

Children, parents and supporters gathered for a night of history making at the second annual Great Person's Ball on Oct. 30 hosted by the Mentors of Minorities in Education’s Total Learning Cis-tem. The program's mission is to “nurture the genius” of each individual child through an after-school program and a variety of educational events held in Washington. 

Allison Brown, a parent involved with the organization and its event coordinator, said “The Great Person’s Ball is an opportunity for the children to, instead of dressing up as goblins and ghouls, dress up as wonderful people in history.”

The ball included a costume contest, in which every participant won a prize; a potluck-style dinner; testimonials by parents and volunteers; and "funky time," when the children got to show their moves.

The organization's CEO Ayize Sebater, who has been with the organization since its inception nine years ago, said, “We have to look to where we’ve been in order to understand where we are able to go."

Another goal of the event was to raise funds for the organization's “green” building project.  The eco-friendly children’s center will include a garden rooftop classroom, rainwater tanks, a geo-thermal heating system and an interactive children’s history museum.

Deputy Director of Programs Chitra Subramanian said “The building will basically be a home to our after-school and summer camp programming and also a permanent exhibition home for our Children’s Gallery of Black History…so that we can invite and impact literally thousands of children year-round."
 

The event sought to be an outlet for the children to show their knowledge of great people they’ve learned about in the after-school program, said Deputy Director of Programs Chitra Subramanian.  Buddha, Majora Carter, Frida Kahlo, Joan of Arc, Malcom X and Aung San Suu Kyi all made appearances at the ball.