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New Orleans, LA – On Monday May 10, 2010
a graduation ceremony was held for over one-hundred 5th and 6th grade
students from Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School in New Orlean’s Lower
Ninth Ward. The students recently completed the Eastern District of
Louisiana United States Marshals sponsored Gang Resistance Education and
Training (G.R.E.A.T) Program.
The G.R.E.A.T. Program is a school-based, law enforcement officer-instructed
classroom curriculum. The program's primary objective is to reduce gang
violence through classroom instruction and various learning activities. The
program’s instruction focuses on helping youths avoid gang membership,
prevent violence and criminal activity, develop a positive relationship with
law enforcement, and teach life skills.
The event was attended by the graduates, school’s faculty, family members
and some special invited guests. Some of the notable guests include: Martin
Luther King Jr. Charter School Principal Dr. Doris Roche'-Hicks; United
States Marshal Genny May, FBI Special Agent in Charge Dave Welker, New
Orleans Police Department Director of Compliance John Bryson and Anne
McKinley of the Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff’s Office.
The guest speakers for the event were Jeff Charleston, defensive end of the
New Orleans Saints and Leigh Torrence, cornerback of the New Orleans Saints.
The speakers provided the graduates with inspirational words as well as took
pictures and signed autographs for them.
For further information about G.R.E.A.T. contact the U.S. Marshals Service
E/LA at (504)589-6079 Dial 1 or visit the G.R.E.A.T. website at
www.great-online.org. For further
information on the U.S. Marshals Service visit
www.usmarshals.gov.
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