Sunday, March 25, 2018

#HarlanHappy


We took off this morning for the magical Kingdom Come State Park. We met with the park manager, Sherri Cornett, when we got there. She was generously able to spend her whole Friday morning taking us around the park, which included many fabulous views and sights. We hiked up to Raven Rock, which is a huge rock at a 45-degree angle to the ground. We even got to see what they call the King and Queen’s chairs at the very top of the park. We also saw the amazing log rock, which is a rock formation in the shape of a log. It was a little treacherous to walk across it, but luckily no one got hurt. We also saw many scenic views from different overlooks throughout the park. Sherri was very patient with our group members wanting to take so many pictures with the Kentucky scenery! Sherri asked for us to take a photo with her in front of the park’s main sign so that they could use it on their Facebook page to welcome people back for the spring season. We were honored to be featured, and we all looked great in our matching AB t-shirts!

From the park, we went straight to Harlan County High School, where Mr. Eugene Farmer along with some other teachers and students showed us around their state-of-the-art campus. We were all extremely impressed with the only public high school in the county, and serves 1,200 students. They have a gymnasium which seats 4,000 students, and they even have a television and broadcasting studio where students do live broadcasts about school events, the news, and weather. We were truly floored by these amazing facilities and opportunities for the students in Harlan County. One of their most important programs is the dual enrollment program, which allows students to take classes for college credit. They have a 93% graduation rate and about three-quarters of them attend more school or the military after high school. Many of the students go to college and about three-quarters of them attend more school or the military after high school. Many of the students go to college at schools across Kentucky. There are also very many extra- curricular activities available for students including sports, drama, music, and other clubs. We enjoyed speaking with the students who clearly have bright futures ahead of them.
After our last day of activities, we had our celebration dinner at Sazon, a popular Mexican restaurant in Harlan that was recommended to us by many of our community partners throughout the week. We enjoyed food such as quesadillas, enchiladas, nachos, and more. It was a great way to end our week in Harlan.
We have learned so much this week and are so glad we spent our spring break here in Harlan learning about Appalachian communities. We hope you enjoyed following along with us on our blog and learned a little something as well. Tomorrow at 8am, we will be headed back to College Park to finish off the semester. Thanks Harlan, for a great spring break!

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