Kennesaw State professor receives "Living the Dream" award

1/23/01 - Kennesaw State University Biology Professor Army Lester III is this year's recipient of the "Living the Dream" award. The award was presented by the Cobb County Martin Luther King Support Group Inc. at the 15th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration. Co-sponsored by the county government, this award is presented to an individual or organization for outstanding community leadership and service in Cobb County.

Lester's community service work includes a summer science camp for high-risk and minority middle school students. The camp, hosted at KSU, lasts three to four weeks and focuses on lab projects with the goal of getting students more interested in science. Lester also sponsors a similar program for high school students that is funded by the National Science Foundation.

Recently Lester was awarded a $30,000 grant to look at novel ways of teaching science to high-risk students in Cobb County and Marietta schools. One of the goals of this grant is to look at ways to help students overcome science phobias.

Lester will be acknowledged for his community service work by the Georgia General Assembly. State Rep. Judy Manning of Marietta will author and co-sponsor the resolution honoring him.