Burnsville Recreation and Learning Center will celebrate the M.L. King Jr. holiday Jan. 16.
Lunch will be served at noon, the celebration activities will start at 1 p.m.
Harlie Leon Sturdivant of Greensboro — and native of the Ansonville community — is the invited speaker. He is the son of the late Rev. Harlie Sturdivant and Prophetess Lizzie Sturdivant, founders of Faith of Zion Baptist Church located in Ansonville.
Sturdivant graduated from West Ansonville High School in 1966. He attended Winston-Salem State University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in teaching with a major in biology and minor in chemistry. His other educational accomplishments include three degrees from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro: master’s in educational administration, 1979; educational specialist in administration, 1988; and a doctorate in curriculum and instruction, 1993.
Sturdivant has 34 years of experience as a public school teacher and administrator, serving as an assistant principal for Guilford County Schools.
After retiring as a public school administrator, he worked for six years at the university level as an adjunct professor instructing and training aspiring teachers. During this time, he worked at WSSU as well as N.C. A&T State University. In the scope of his career he taught, counseled and influenced some 50,000 students.
Carol Smith is the director of the Burnsville Recreation and Learning Center.