Pitt's Swiss Nationality Room Committee to Hold Picnic Aug. 1

Held in Richland Community Park, the event celebrates the proposed classroom and Swiss National Day

Designer and wood craftsman for the proposed Swiss Nationality Room will attend

PITTSBURGH-The University of Pittsburgh Swiss Nationality Room committee will hold a picnic at 1 p.m. Aug. 1 at Richland Community Park barn, 1061 Van Velsor Dr., Richland Township, to celebrate their proposed new classroom and Swiss National Day, first celebrated in Berne, Switzerland, in 1891.

Swiss Nationality Room designer Justin Ruessli, from Lucerne, Switzerland, and Richard Sink, a West Virginia craftsman who will create all the woodwork for the proposed new room at Pitt, will attend. The room, scheduled for completion in 2011, will honor Jean Jacques Rousseau, 18th century philosopher, writer and composer, and Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, educational reformer.

The picnic will feature a boulder tossing contest, an evening bonfire and an auction, including such items as a Swiss Bruderhof's handcrafted chair and T-shirts autographed by Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, an honorary Swiss room committee member.

For more information, call the Nationality Rooms Program office at 412-624-6150.

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07/31/09/amm