Panel discussion held at Shepherd addresses education

ISSUED: 21 January 2010
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens
(Panel discussion held at Shepherd addresses education)

Shepherdstown, WV--Four panel members spoke to a nearly packed auditorium Tuesday night during the Martin Luther King, Jr. discussion panel, hosted by the Office of Multicultural Affairs, at Shepherd University's Robert C. Byrd Center for Legislative Studies.

The panel members included Tom Segar, assistant vice president for student affairs and director of residence life at Shepherd; Solomon Wright, of Martinsburg, a local activist for social change and teacher in Berkeley County Schools; Dorothy Davis, of Bunker Hill, who attended the 1963 March on Washington, D.C.; and Tiffany Claiborne, a May 2009 graduate of Shepherd from Frederick, Maryland and a former member of the Multicultural Leadership Team.

The topic of discussion for the evening was the legacy of King and how he impacted their lives and the roles they currently play in their communities.

All of the panel members, who are educators or mentors, addressed the need for education on Black history not only once a year, but throughout the curriculum.

Davis said that King made her more aware of the plight of other individuals for social justice.

"He made me give back more than I would in normal circumstances," Davis said.

Davis encouraged the audience, who was made up of Shepherd students as well as high school students, to think of themselves as drum majors, as Dr. King did.

"You are capable of being leaders," Davis said.

Claiborne said that she strives to have social justice for everyone, and that through King's example, she wants to respect everyone the same way she expects to be respected.

"The influence of Dr. King made me thirsty for knowledge," Wright said. "You don't understand the influence you have while you're in college. You have the wisdom and strength to be an unstoppable force."

-30-KESNER

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Pictured above (l. to r.) are Dorothy Davis, Tiffany Claiborne, Tom Segar, and Solomon Wright.

Dorothy Davis

Tiffany Claiborne

Solomon Wright

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