PITTSFIELD – Maine Central Institute’s 11th annual auction has named Rosalie Williams as honorary chairwoman, culminating a year of diversity celebrations. The events began last fall with October’s Cultural Heritage Day, and then the January Sno-Ball’s theme was “Major Cities of the World.” Winter Carnival, held this weekend, continues the theme, with giant snow sculptures of places such as Cairo, Moscow and New York City.

The annual auction event has raised more than $100,000 in the past five years to benefit the school’s music and athletic programs.

The auction’s theme this year is “Around the World in 80 Days – A Celebration of MCI’s Cultural Diversity.” SAD 53 tuitions its students to MCI for secondary education, where they join more than 100 students from 14 other states and 24 countries.

“These kids bring cultural and ethnic diversity that is extremely rare for a small, central Maine town,” MCI Administrator Caroline Smith said Friday.

“World traveler that Rosalie is, it is especially appropriate that she chair this auction,” Smith said. “She and her late husband, Peter [Williams], were Peace Corps volunteers in Sierra Leone in West Africa in the 1960s and were instructors in Beijing in 1999.”

Rosalie Williams was a teacher and administrator at MCI for 25 years, retiring in 2004.

“Throughout her years at MCI, Rosalie was really the driving force behind the whole celebration of cultural diversity,” Smith said.While at MCI, Williams was an English teacher, English department chairwoman, director of prize speaking, and civil rights compliance officer. She also served on the self-study team for accreditation, led the Task Force on Diversity in 2003 and was associate head of school-director of studies.

The dinner-auction will be held at Wrights Gym at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, May 7, and honoring Williams’ service to MCI will be a part of the festivities. According to Suzie Furrow, co-chairwoman of the dinner committee, the meal will consist of roast beef and baked stuffed scallops. The evening costs $25 per couple or $15 for one person. Music will be provided by MCI’s Instrumental Jazz Ensemble and the 2004 State Champion Vocal Jazz Ensemble. Attendees are encouraged to dress in costumes from around the world.

MCI students from around the country and around the world will wear their native dress, said Smith, and several international students will perform music sung in their native languages. For information and reservations, call Furrow at MCI, 487-3355, ext. 227.