APSU to hold 2nd annual Joint Juvenile Justice Conference on Saturday

Austin Peay State University

Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University will hold its second annual Joint Juvenile Justice Conference on Saturday, April 21st in the Morgan University Center.

The conference will take place from 8:30am-4:30pm on the third floor of the MUC.

The purpose of the conference is to increase the awareness of issues, programs and resources available to youth, parents, teachers, college students, advocates, officers of the court and the public to help prevent juvenile delinquency.

The conference is sponsored by the Montgomery County Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) Task Force, the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth, the APSU Juvenile Justice Grant and the JDAI.

The conference is free and open to the public.

Here is the schedule for Saturday

8:30am-9:00am — Registration and continental breakfast

9:00am-9:50am— Opening session by Dr. Merriel Bullock-Neal, esquire, chair of Montgomery County DMC Task Force and principal investigator, APSU Juvenile Justice Grant, and assistant professor of education at APSU, and Ron King, DMC coordinator for the state of Tennessee.

The conference schedule includes the following topics and speakers

10:00am-11:20am: “Livin’ La Vida Loca” by Tommy Vallejos, director of the Hispanic Organization for Progress and Hope and a Montgomery County commissioner.

11:30am: — Luncheon keynote speaker Lowell Perry, chief executive officer of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Middle Tennessee.

1:40pm-3:00pm: Bullying and Cyberbullying by Dr. Susan Jones, certified trainer in the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System.

3:10pm-4:30pm: Closing session titled “Rachel’s Challenge,” sponsored by Planters Bank. Rachel’s Challenge is a bullying and violence abatement program founded by Darrell Scott, whose daughter, Rachel Scott, was the first person killed at Columbine High School on April 20th, 1999. Rachel’s acts of kindness and compassion coupled with the contents of her six diaries have become the foundation for this most life-changing school program in the U.S.
More than 1.5 million students annually experience Rachel’s Challenge and have the opportunity to accept the challenges, modeled after Rachel’s life and writings. The school program founded by Darrell Scott has prevented more than 350 suicides since 2008, drastically reduced bullying, and in at least six instances has prevented school shootings.

For more information about the Joint Conference on Juvenile Justice, contact Dr. Merriel Bullock-Neal at 931.221.7368 at nealm@apsu.edu.