LEWISTON - The seventh Mount David Summit, Bates College's annual celebration of student academic achievement, will begin with festivities at 2:30 p.m. Friday, March 28, in Perry Atrium, Pettengill Hall, 4 Andrews Road (Alumni Walk).

More than 350 students will participate in this year's summit. In concurrent sessions throughout the afternoon at Pettengill Hall, participants present research posters, short talks, readings, dramatic performances, art exhibitions and video screenings.

The summit, which is free and open to the public, will culminate in two performances: the Bates College Modern Dance Company student choreography at 7:30 p.m. in Schaeffer Theatre and the Bates College Choir performing Parts II and III of Handel's "Messiah" at 8 p.m. in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall.

Presentations, held in Pettengill except as noted, will include:

• A panel of students from the Balkans discussing implications of the recently declared independence of Kosovo;

• Working with visiting playwright and performance artist Tim Collins, 32 students presenting an original play exploring what could happen if oil were discovered in the Gaza Strip (Pettigrew Hall, Gannett Theater);

• Three students reading their poetry and others offering literary criticism in genres ranging from Arthurian legend to Indian-American author Jhumpa Lahiri;

• Screening of "Library Horror Movie," a film made by students;

• Students presenting posters on a range of topics they analyzed using global positioning technology, from the tsunami threat in the Pacific Northwest to voting patterns in the U.S. presidential primaries.

The event title "Mount David" is borrowed from a Bates landmark: the rocky outcropping at the corner of Mountain Avenue and College Street.

See a full summit schedule at www.bates.edu/mt-david-summit.xml.