GROVE CITY, Pa. – The 17th annual Very Special Arts Exhibit sponsored by the Midwestern Intermediate Unit IV is now open at the Grove City College Gallery in the Pew Fine Arts Center and runs through March 31. The exhibit features work by more than 600 kindergarten through grade 12 students from the 27 school districts in Butler, Lawrence and Mercer counties.

Gallery hours are from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays and from 8 a.m. to noon Saturdays (closed on Sundays).

Very Special Arts is an international nonprofit organization affiliated with the educational programs of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

The exhibit, also supported by PSEA and McDonalds of London, is free and open to the public. No tickets are required. For more information call (724) 458-6700, ext. 211 or 249.

The Midwestern Intermediate Unit IV is an education service agency for schools in Mercer, Lawrence and Butler counties. There are 27 member school districts, including Butler, Commodore Perry, Ellwood City, Farrell, Greenville, Grove City, Hermitage, Jamestown, Karns City, Lakeview, Laurel, Mars, Mercer, Mohawk, Moniteau, Neshannock, New Castle, Reynolds, Seneca Valley, Sharon, Sharpsville, Shenango, Slippery Rock, South Butler, Union, Wilmington and West Middlesex, as well as the Butler County Vo-Tech, Lawrence County Vo-Tech and the Mercer County Career Center.

MEDIA: Campus coordinator is Carole Starz, who may be contacted at (724) 458-3871 or cmstarz@gcc.edu. For more information on the exhibit, for details on local stories on individual students or for a list of participants, contact Virginia Moore, director of the unit’s art in education programs, at (724) 458-6700, x211 or x249.

Grove City College is listed as one of the Most Competitive colleges in the nation by Barron’s. In its category, Grove City College is also ranked by U.S. News & World Report as No. 1 Best Value and No. 5 overall in the 2005 guide to America’s Best Colleges. Grove City College has also been called a “best value” and a “hidden treasure” by guidance counselors in the Kaplan National High School Guidance Counselor Survey, and is also the No. 16 Best Bargain school according to the Princeton Review. Founded in 1876, it is located 60 miles north of Pittsburgh, Pa. With an enrollment of 2,300 students, it is a private Christian college teaching the liberal arts, sciences and engineering. It is an advocate of the free market economic system and accepts no federal funding. Tuition is about half of the national average for private colleges.

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