Contact: Leah Barbour
STARKVILLE, Miss.--University officials are announcing the slate of Maroon Edition activities designed to educate, entertain and inspire Mississippi State students during the 2014-15 academic year.
Students at all grade levels and in all academic majors are being encouraged to participate in the Maroon Edition, an annual common reading experience.
This summer, incoming freshmen attending orientation sessions received copies of "The Invisible Girls" (Jericho Books, 2013). The memoir chronicles author Sarah Thebarge's cancer diagnosis and the unexpected friendships she formed following treatment.
Thebarge is on campus Tuesday [Aug. 19] to serve as featured speaker for MSU's inaugural Freshman Convocation. During a 6 p.m. Wednesday [the 20th] program at 407 Moseley Residence Hall, she will lead a discussion titled "The Theology of Suffering and Cancer."
Since faith, doubt and hope are central themes of the book, Thebarge said she will be explaining how those ideas impacted her while facing breast cancer as a 27-year-old.
"People can relate to the themes in the book because these are the same themes in their own lives," she said. "Whoever you are and whatever's in your pocket, you already have the things you need to change the world."
For more information about Thebarge's visit, see www.msstate.edu/web/media/detail.php?id=6737 and www.mvc.msstate.edu/programs/interfaith-challenge.
Some other fall semester Maroon Edition activities include:
--Sept. 8, 5-7 p.m., fourth floor of Moseley Hall. "The Visible Student," a group conversation will explore themes of the book and how they relate to the challenges faced by MSU students.
--Oct. 7, 5:30-7 p.m., Chadwick Lake. A "One Mile Pink Walk" around the new track will provide students and community members an opportunity to show support for breast cancer awareness.
--Nov. 7, 5 p.m., deadline for Maroon & Write, the Maroon Edition essay contest for freshmen and upperclassmen writing about Thebarge's book. Visit www.maroonedition.msstate.edu for details about the essay contest and program.
MSU is online at www.msstate.edu, as well as on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.