Students, faculty, and Staunton community leaders gathered at First Presbyterian Church to bridge the gap between King’s “Dream” and the call for modern-day action.
Members of the Mary Baldwin community gathered in Staunton’s First Presbyterian Church for the 35th annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Service for Peace and Justice. Students, faculty, staff, and plenty of local community members filled the church building to hear tributes, proclamations, and reflections in honor of the civil rights icon’s monumental legacy.
Professor Emeritus Dr. Edward Scott presided over the evening, as he has for years. Scott opened the evening’s ceremonies by remembering King’s 1963 speech at the Lincoln Memorial:
“Tonight, we are anxious, wondering if we have advanced the dream at all. How can it be that we find ourselves in this place now — where children are ripped from their mother’s arms? Where our neighbors are slain in the streets? Where profits matter more than souls? Tonight we gather to remember Dr. King, and to embrace his legacy as an example as we navigate these troubled times together.”
MBU’s chaplain, Dr. Katherine Low, continued with King’s memory, this time recalling the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. She quoted the recollections of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who said he felt his “feet were praying,” before inviting the audience to their feet for a performance by the Anointed Voices of Praise choir.
Anointed Voices of Praise provided most of the music for the evening, the highlight of which was a rousing rendition of “Jesus Is a Rock in a Weary Land,” featuring soloist Jadyn McGinniss ‘27. This performance, and several others throughout the evening, earned a standing ovation from the audience.
Two graduate students were featured in the evening’s program: Adele Beaucicot, a student in Murphy Deming’s physical therapy program, accepted the welcome from Rev. Dr. Jeff Binder of the First Presbyterian Church; and Sophia Kahn, a student in the Shakespeare and Performance Program, shared a piece of Hebrew scripture with the audience.
The executive committee of MBU’s Student Government Association (SGA) read a proclamation aloud, followed by another proclamation from Kadin Pittman ‘28, the president of Minority Clubs United at MBU. The latter proclamation quoted King: “Whatever happens to one of us directly, happens to all of us indirectly.”
Members of the local community were represented in the ceremony, as well. Sabrina Burress, president of the NAACP Staunton Branch and co-sponsor of the evening’s event, read from her own proclamation and implored the audience to honor King “not just with applause, but with action.”
The entirety of Staunton’s city council, led by Mayor Michelle Edwards, took to the pulpit to affirm the proclamations made throughout the night, and to add their voices to the many who stood and spoke in unity throughout the event.
Each year, the MLK Memorial Service includes a special recognition of a deserving community member whose impact on the MBU and local communities has embodied the virtues that the civil rights leader espoused. MBU’s own Reverend Andrea Cornett-Scott presented this award, this year given to Dan Layman, CEO and director of the Community Foundation of the Central Blue Ridge and husband to MBU President Emerita Dr. Pamela Fox.
MBU senior Jonathan Delgado, president of the Black Student Alliance, shared a special tribute to King before the next highlight of the evening, the induction ceremony for the King’s Men.
The King’s Men at MBU are a collection of students “dedicated to racial justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion,” Cornett-Scott reminded the audience before announcing the names of those inducted. Alongside the student inductees were two community members recognized as honorary inductees to the King’s Men.
King’s Men Inductees:
Kadin Pitman ‘28
Camarion Shaw ‘27
Da Shaun Brown ‘29, Head of class
Lawayne Ames ‘27
William Reyes ‘26
John Lahoud ‘27
Omarion LaCroix ‘26
Honorary Inductees:
George Hunter
Linwood Bundy
The Mary Baldwin Concert Choir performed “I Sing Because I’m Happy,” as the ceremony wound down and transitioned to addresses from two presidents of Mary Baldwin University.
First spoke Dr. Todd Telemeco, MBU’s current and 11th president, who summarized the feeling across the audience, “If you aren’t moved tonight, you cannot be moved.”
Fox spoke next, echoing King to the audience: “This 35th service in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. is a reminder of the arduous work of bending the arc of history toward justice.”
The Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Memorial Service serves as the unofficial start to MBU’s robust Black History Month programming, which shifts into full gear at the start of February. See Black History Month highlights and a link to the full schedule of events below:
