Alamo Community Colleges News & Events

Public Invited to Celebrate Juneteenth at SPC

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 11, 2007
CONTACT: Matari Jones-Gunter, Director, Community and Public Relations, St. Philip's College
210/531-3260
mgunter@mail.accd.edu

It’s a Texas holiday that’s celebrated around the world and St. Philip’s College is proud take part. Tuesday, June 19th, 2007, St. Philip’s College will host Juneteenth celebrations. Children’s activities are planned from 9am-11am. They include inflatable games like slides and tunnels and face painting. From 11am-3pm there will be storytelling, live gospel music and poetic expressions.

Dr. Adena Williams Loston, President of St. Philip’s College, will welcome the crowd. A recreation of the reading of the General Order by General Gordon Granger also is planned. The event is free and open to the public.

In recognition of Juneteenth, the internationally renowned Culinary Arts Department at St. Philip’s will prepare an African menu to serve in a special dining hall called “The Upper Deck.”

About Juneteenth: This historical day refers to June 19th, 1865 when Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas. He announced the Civil War was over and all slaves were free. For more than one hundred and forty years, Texans from all over the world have celebrated this historical moment every June 19th with festivities and traditions.

About St. Philip’s: Today, St. Philip’s College remains a multi-campus institution of the Alamo Community Colleges, joining four other colleges – San Antonio College, Palo Alto College, Northwest Vista College, and Northeast Lakeview College – in meeting the educational needs of San Antonio’s growing and diverse community. A Historically Black College and Hispanic Serving Institution with a semester enrollment of over 9,000, St. Philip’s is among the oldest and most diverse community colleges in the nation.

The College’s motto is “A Point of Pride in the Community.”