Dr. Carson speaks about importance of education

Renowned surgeon Dr. Ben Carson will bring an encouraging message of hope to the community of Sikeston, Mo.

John Mcmillen, co-chair of the Dr. Ben Carson event, said the idea behind bringing Carson to Sikeston came from the reaction to the previous election results. He said many people were devastated with the outcomes and needed a silver lining. Mcmillen found Carson to be the perfect person to uplift the community.

"We were brainstorming about what we could do to lift people up," Mcmillen said. "There has to be hope in our heart or we are defeated. So it's like who could we bring in to Sikeston that would be a motivational speaker and just talk to us about American values."

His speech will be dedicated primarily to encouraging youth to reaching a higher level of education and somewhat combined with the theme from his latest book "America the Beautiful: What Made this Nation Great." The book goes in depth about Carson's political standpoints with references throughout history.

Carson is an advocate for educating at risk youth. Mcmillen said Carson is very heavily involved in scholarships. During the event three $5,000 scholarships from Lighthouse Ministries International will be awarded to local high school students who have met certain qualifications. The proceeds from the event will go toward funding the scholarships. Mcmillen believes this is exactly what the community needs.

"He would be the best speaker by far that I know of to bring to Sikeston because he's got great commonsense ideas," Mcmillen said.

Carson grew up in indigent Detroit, Mich. with his brother and single mom. Supposedly, Carson claims to have been a very troubled child doing poorly in school and getting into fights. Despite the extraordinary odds, Carson turned his life around at an early age with the help of his mother who stressed the importance being educated in order to escape poverty. He became the director of pediatric neurosurgery at John Hopkins Hospital when he was 33-years-old and became famous in the medical world for his ground-breaking work successfully separating conjoined twins for the first time in medical history.

Carson has written five best-selling books and the movie "Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story" was written based on Carson's life. Among the the numerous honors and experiences listed on Carson's biography, the most recent is his political work. There is currently a petition out for Carson to run for United States President.

According to Mcmillen, it's hard to say as of right now whether or not Carson will accept. He has no affiliation with the Republican or Democratic parties. He was once quoted saying that if he were a member of a political party it would be called the "Logic Party" and be based off of commonsense approaches that he believes everyone should be able to see.

Myrna Cheek is a member of the core committee responsible for bringing Carson to Sikeston. Cheek hope that someone as influential as Carson will put a positive spotlight on Sikeston and the surrounding area, including Cape Girardeau.

"Sikeston is a good place to live, the area is a good place and we just wanted to say 'Hey, we're down here, we're a good group of people," Cheek said. "The only thing most people know about Sikeston is Lambert's and the rodeo. So we wanted to put us on the map a little bit with something positive."

The doors open for the event at 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 22 in the fieldhouse at Sikeston High School. Prior to Carson's speech, there will be a brief performance by "America's Got Talent" 2008 winner, Neil Boyd followed by Sikeston high school's choir.

According to Cheek, Carson will be speaking one-on-one to approximately 75 at-risk youth during the music portion of the event. Books written by Carson will be available for purchase. A book signing and a Question and Answer will follow the event.

"There's still some division in the town and we'd like to see that change. Hopefully this will be a step in that direction," Cheek said.