The South Haven Speaker Series will conclude its tenth season next week with a presentation on gun violence.

Speaker Series board member and co-founder Elaine Stephens tells us they’ll host Michigan Chief Medical Executive Natasha Bagdasarian, who will discuss addressing gun violence like a public health emergency. Stephens says the Speaker Series always tries to cover relevant topics, and this is one of them. Bagdasarian has worked on gun violence policy.

“I listened to her do a presentation in January, and I knew also that she had been very instrumental in helping to testify and pass the package of gun violence bills that went into effect this February,” Stephens said.

Stephens says the Speaker Series leadership tries to select four timely topics each year, and that was the idea when the series was started. It was South Haven resident Bob Copping’s idea.

“10 years ago, Bob got a few of us together. We disagree at what restaurant it was at, but we got together and he said, ‘You know, let’s talk about this. Shouldn’t we have some speakers come in and talk to us about things in South Haven about issues and ideas?’”

Stephens says the South Haven Speaker Series has been a resounding success, never failing to attract the speakers it invites. Engagements typically feature an audience of more than 100.

Bagdasarian’s presentation will be next Thursday at 7 p.m. at the South Haven campus of Lake Michigan College. It’s $10 for adults to get in. Everyone’s welcome.