Students participating in MLK program

Nearly 1,300 area fifth-graders will participate in the 23rd annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. children’s program today and Friday in the Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene school districts and at North Idaho College.

The topic for 2008 is “Do the Unthinkable Thing – Change the World.” Speaker Scott Rigsby will speak to fifth-graders in both school districts today.

Rigsby is an athlete who overcame significant physical trauma and personal tragedy to become a four-time world record holder and the first double amputee to complete an Ironman triathlon on prosthetics.

The week’s activities will wrap up with an assembly at 9:30 a.m. Friday in NIC’s Christianson Gym. The assembly will include an appearance by Rigsby as well as fifth-graders’ performances of music, dancing and readings on the topic of human rights.

The children’s program is sponsored by the NIC Popcorn Forum, the NIC Human Equality Club, the Post Falls School District, the Coeur d’Alene School District, the Human Rights Education Institute and the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations.