VUJC hosts launch party celebrating Indiana
The Vincennes University – Jasper campus will come alive with international music, ethnic food and friendly competition on Sept. 16. The Advanced Manufacturing & Technology Center is hosting a free community event to launch ALL-IN, a new program designed by Indiana Humanities, in Dubois County.
The 5-7 p.m. event will feature fun, family-friendly challenges from the program’s eight humanities-based categories: Explore, Discover, Read, Remember, Participate, Connect, Reflect and Dream. Participating Dubois County organizations and community groups will bring the challenges to life that evening by adding their own local flavor to the event.
According to Alan Johnson, Dean of Vincennes University – Jasper Campus, the event will cater to all age groups and demographics.
“From sharing when your family first moved to Dubois County on the Indiana-versary timeline to listening to music from a different country, there’s something for families, young professionals, students, new residents and people who have lived here all their lives,” he said.
Attendees will have the chance to complete challenges, win prizes and participate in an interactive ALL-IN game show featuring WITZ’s Jim O’Neal as the emcee. Indiana Humanities President and CEO Keira Amstutz will present an overview of ALL-IN to familiarize Dubois County participants with the newly-launched program and how they can participate even after the night concludes. It’s the first launch party for the program outside of Indianapolis.
“We love working with Dubois County because of its rich history and excitement about the future,” Amstutz said. “When we started looking at areas across the state to launch ALL-IN, this community was at the top of our list. We can’t wait to connect with residents, learn more about its history and help envision its future.”
Indiana Humanities created ALL-IN (www.IndianaHumanities.org/ALL-IN) to further its mission of connecting people, opening minds and enriching lives by encouraging people to think, read and talk. It was inspired by the Indiana Civic Health Index in 2011 that revealed a perplexing paradox: While Hoosiers are more likely than other Americans to belong to a civic organization, participate in a school group or attend church, Indiana ranked 45th in the nation in terms of neighbors working together to solve community problems.
“Hoosiers are spending more time than most Americans in groups, but we’re not working together to solve problems,” said Amstutz. “We saw this as a tremendous opportunity to try to bring people together to have more substantive conversations about problems facing our communities – especially as we gear up for our state’s bicentennial in 2016.”
Dubois County partner organizations include: Vincennes University – Jasper Campus, City of Jasper, City of Huntingburg, Town of Ferdinand, Dubois County Emerging Leaders, Jasper Arts Council, Jasper Chamber of Commerce, Jasper Public Library, Purdue Extension Dubois County, and Sisters of St. Benedict.
