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Delta Announces First Recipient of the Coretta Scott King/Delta Air Lines Scholarship


WEBWIRE

Student interested in passing racial discrimination policy

ATLANTA, April 28, 2006 – Delta Air Lines is acknowledging the birthday of the late Coretta Scott King by announcing the first recipient of the Coretta Scott King/Delta Air Lines Scholarship. India Davis, a 20-year-old theatre major from Seattle, Wash., is the first winner and will be introduced Saturday during commencement exercises at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio.

Davis will receive $10,000 as part of Delta’s effort to acknowledge the widow of civil rights leader Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The scholarship is the first of five $10,000 gifts to students from the Delta Air Lines Foundation, a company-managed giving system that is a separate entity from Delta.

“Delta is delighted to provide students like India an opportunity to further their academic goals and fulfill their dreams much the way Mrs. King did,” said Scarlet Pressley-Brown, general manager – Global Diversity and Community Affairs at Delta. “In addition, our partnership with Antioch will allow many students to travel to locations around the world to fulfill their undergraduate requirements in community service.”

Davis, a sophomore, is a member of the Coretta Scott King Center committee and is interested in working with the group to pass the Antioch Racial Discrimination Prevention Policy, which would be the first policy of its kind in the country. The theatre major will study in Mali this summer on an Antioch Education Abroad Program.

“I have always been a performer, acting and singing wherever I went,” said Davis. “When I came to Antioch, I didn’t think I wanted to be a theater major. But for me, performance is a vessel through which I can explore and claim my own identity while creating social change.”

The Coretta Scott King/Delta Air Lines Scholarship, which was created shortly after Mrs. King died in January, supports the work of the Coretta Scott King Center for Cultural & Intellectual Freedom, which focuses its efforts on applied ethics, including the philosophy of human rights and equality at Antioch. Mrs. King, who lent her support to democracy movements worldwide and served as a consultant on nonviolence to many world leaders, graduated from Antioch with a degree in music. Mrs. King would have celebrated her 79th birthday on April 27.

The Delta Air Lines Foundation will provide additional in-kind support of $50,000 a year for five years to provide travel on Delta Air Lines for undergraduate students to fulfill public service requirements and expand advocacy for civil rights and human rights efforts around the world. The Foundation’s gift also will provide travel for college symposium participants conducting lectures related to King’s work.

Delta Air Lines (Other OTC: DALRQ) is one of the world’s fastest growing international carriers with more than 50 new international routes added or announced in the last year. Delta offers flights to 452 destinations in 95 countries on Delta, Song, Delta Shuttle, the Delta Connection carriers and its worldwide partners. In summer 2006, Delta plans to offer customers more destinations and departures between the U.S., Europe, India and Israel than any global airline*, including service on 11 new transatlantic routes from its Atlanta and New York-JFK hubs. Delta also is a major carrier to Mexico, South and Central America and the Caribbean, with more than 35 routes announced, added or applied to serve since Jan. 1, 2005. Delta’s marketing alliances also allow customers to earn and redeem SkyMiles on more than 14,000 flights offered by SkyTeam and other partners. Delta is a founding member of SkyTeam, a global airline alliance that provides customers with extensive worldwide destinations, flights and services. Customers can check in for flights, print boarding passes and check flight status at delta.com.

*From the U.S., based on July 2006 OAG.



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