With these remarks during the opening invocation of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund’s annual scholarship gala Monday, Rabbi Jonah Pesner set the tone for the work of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) and the schools they serve.
“My charge, as I see it, is to give this community the license to dream again. To believe in each other again and to reach for the stars of greatness,” said U.S. Rep. Alma Adams, D-N.C., quoting University of the Virgin Islands president and TMCF-award winner Dr. David Hall.
In a time in which HBCUs are under constant attack from federal and state legislatures and from others who fail to grasp their continued relevance in the current climate, this statement is not only reflective of one local president’s sentiments, but could be extrapolated into a charge to the broader community. At no point during the Washington, D.C., gala event was the need for this charge — and the need for the continued work of HBCUs and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund — more evident than during the student presentations.
One Coppin State University student detailed her journey as a homeless student in Baltimore. In an emotional speech, she shared her zeal for getting an education in spite of great housing and food insecurity and among many other unstable sets of circumstance.
“As a homeless student, I have lived in a variety of unsafe temporary situations, including my car, the homes of other people, emergency shelters, transitional homes and campus buildings. As a student at Coppin State University, it is impossible for me to afford room and board and have enough money to cover the rest of my fees. I have spent the last six months without shelter in Baltimore with only one aspiration: to finish my college education,” said Mary Bacon, a junior at Coppin State University and a TMCF Scholar. Bacon said she constantly deals with the “fear of failure, not meeting societal expectations” as a homeless college student.
When people ask how she is doing, Bacon says OK, but admitted that she is “not OK.”
