(MURFREESBORO) For the 25th consecutive year, a stellar group of unsung heroes is slated to be honored at MTSU’s 2021 Unity Celebration, held virtually this year as part of the university’s annual Black History Month activities.
In this year’s renamed online recognition that substitutes for the annual on-campus Unity Luncheon due to COVID-19, the five honorees will be applauded during a special online broadcast beginning at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 11, on the university’s Facebook and YouTube channels. The ceremony can be accessed at http://facebook.com/ mtsublueraiders and http://youtube.com/mtsunews, respectively.
Each celebrated individual must be 60 years of age or older, have resided in the Middle Tennessee area for 25 years or more and have made outstanding contributions to his or her community. MTSU has recognized nearly 130 individuals since the recognition program began.
Daniel Green, Black History Month Committee chairman and director of Intercultural and Diversity Affairs, and Tony Strode, Black History Month Committee member and transfer enrollment coordinator, will co-emcee and present a special slideshow of the honorees. They are:
Community Service, Violet D. Cox Wingo, an adjunct professor of social work at MTSU who has encouraged voter registration and civic involvement through her membership in the NAACP;
Excellence in Sports, George Gibson, founder of the Above the Rim Gym, a nonprofit basketball academy for boys ages 7-17 which helps provide them with skills to prepare them for adulthood;
Education, Sue Alexander, telephone operator at MTSU, volunteer host at athletic events and church volunteer;
Education, Kim Sokoya, associate dean of the Jennings A. Jones College of Business and creator of the Flex MBA program that allows students to obtain master’s degrees in business administration totally online;
Advocate of Civility, Christa Martin, vice mayor of Columbia, Tennessee, and volunteer in more than 15 civic organizations.
MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee will provide congratulatory remarks to the honorees and online audience, while Student Government Association President Chelseah Moore, a senior finance major, will lead the audience in a recitation of the True Blue Pledge.
Sean “Mack” McDonald, a musician and junior in audio production from Augusta, Georgia, will entertain with renditions of “To Be Young, Gifted and Black,” composed by Nina Simone and Weldon Irvine; “What’s Going On?,” composed by Marvin Gaye, Al Cleveland and Renaldo Benson; and “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” also known as the Black national anthem, composed by James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamond Johnson.
“The Black History Month Committee encourages the campus and wider community to join us online for this special celebration,” Green said. “Please bring your virtual hugs and handclaps as we honor another stellar group of unsung heroes who are the lifeblood of the Midstate region.”
