FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE APRIL 26th, 2014

Koplin to testify before Louisiana Senate Education Committee on Thursday.

Manship School Courage and Justice Award recipient Zack Koplin, will testify before the
Louisiana Senate Education Committee on Thursday in an effort to repeal an act that requires
balanced treatment in science education.
Koplin, a twenty year-old student at Rice University, has been a leader in the fight to
take creationism out of Louisianas classrooms since he was a senior at Baton Rouge Magnet
High School. Zack began in his role as an activist, when he reached out to numerous Noble
Laureate winners to acquire signatures on a petition against the act.
After acquiring seventy-eight signatures, Koplin approached Senator Karen Carter-
Peterson (D- New Orleans) who immediately took the cause on. Even though Carter-Petersons
bill has failed for the past two years, she filed it again this year to continue raising awareness of
the issue.
Although vocal support of this years bill is limited to Senators Eric LaFleur (D- Ville Platte)
and Dan Claitor (R- Baton Rouge), Koplin is focused on continuing an awareness campaign
for a science curriculum void of creationism.
It could be worse, two years ago a Senator (Julie Quinn) told us we are all tired of
hearing from people with little letters behind their names at least we arent being openly
ridiculed anymore, Koplin said.
Koplin intends to continue fighting for excellence in science curriculum until there are
no longer discrepancies across the state. Zack will testify before the Education Committee
Thursday at 11:00 a.m.