Youth, nature, explored at childhood conference

Throughout the evening’s concert, the gleeful giggles of children laughing and playing with their friends could be heard. It was the perfect accent among the chords of a keyboard and the soft vocals of David Roth.

The 22nd Annual “Excellence in Early Childhood Conference,” featured a performance by guitarist and philanthropist David Roth, below, who interwove music and inspirational stories into his evening performance in the Student Center Friday.

Roth solicited audience participation in a number of his songs, and intermixed singing with personal narrative of his life and work. Among Roth’s sayings was the phrase “Fear is just excitement without oxygen.”

Other conference highlights included a poverty simulation, and key note speeches by Cheryl Charles and Tonia Durden.