Award Reception and Ceremony of First Annual Art and Essay Contest
Raindrop Turkish House in Collaboration with Houston Independent School District organized the Award Reception and Ceremony of First Annual Art and Essay Contest with the theme “Alliance of Civilizations”. The program started with the reception in the lobby of Turquoise Center and the students, parents, teachers, and administrators from HISD enjoyed delicious Turkish food. The award ceremony started with the Mayor of Houston Annise Parkers` opening proclamation .After that the president of Raindrop House Mr. Mehmet Okumus stated that we aim to develop young generations ambitious for the ideas of peace friendship and fraternity with these projects. Mr Mehmet Okumus also added that we had a great honor to have this project with a talented education institution which is the first in Texas and the seventh the biggest education institution in United States.
Mr Lawrence Allen who is the member of Texas State Education Ministry of Board joined the art and essay award ceremony on behalf of Texas Schools.
Texas Representative Alma Allen, Honorable Consul General of Turkey Akil Oktem, and Dr. Lynn Mitchell from University of Houston presented the awards to the students.
The art and essay award ceremony came to an end with exchanging the plagues between the two institutions with the idea of coordinating a peace and friendship bridge between the countries. (January 29, 2010 Houston,Texas)