Troy University students in Dr. Diane Orlofsky’s Music for Early Childhood Elementary Music and Music for Exceptional Learner classes are enhancing their education and enriching the community thanks to an innovative project that forces them to find new ways to reach children.

M.A.D.E. for Kids – the Musical Activities Database for Everyone – is a student developed and maintained website that focuses on school readiness and social skills for children. The website is expected to be operational by the end of the fall semester, but it’s not the first of its kind for TROY students.

“I saw this as an excellent way to combine theory and practice to enhance the pre-service students’ technology skills while also making a difference in the community,” said Dr. Orlofsky, a professor in the John M. Long School of Music.

The project was initiated by a request from local pediatricians who turned to Dr.

November 3, 1970: Fred Gray and Thomas Reed are elected to the state House of Representatives to become the first black Alabama legislators since Reconstruction. Both men won seats from the 31st House District, composed of Macon, Bullock, and Barbour counties.

Information Source: Alabama Department of Archives and History

October 31, 1954: Martin Luther King Jr. of Atlanta is installed as minister of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery. A little more than a year later, on the first day of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, he was named president of the Montgomery Improvement Association, a role which made him a national civil rights figure.

Information Source: Alabama Department of Archives and History