Black History Month Event Coming Up On February 18 in Schulenburg

A Black History Month Celebration will take place in Schulenburg on Saturday, Feb. 18.

“We’re spotlighting and focusing on our past, present and future history makers in the community,” said Cathy Runnels, one of the event organizers. “Everybody is invited to join and celebrate and learn.”

Festivities will begin with a parade in Downtown Schulenburg. The parade will follow the same route as the Schulenburg Festival Parade. It will begin at 10 a.m. on North Main Street heading west through downtown and turning south on Bohlmann Ave. The parade will end at the Pavilion in Wolters Park.

“Right now the parade is pretty large with 82 entries so far,” said Robert Moore, the parade organizer.

Following the parade there will be a special Black History Month program starting at 11 a.m. under the Pavilion. The program will include poetry readings from local youth and a keynote speech by Dr. Virginia Glass-Berry.

Dr. Virginia Glass-Berry was born in Weimar and raised in Schulenburg. She is a retired educator with 42 years of service. After graduation from Schulenburg High School in May of 1978, she enrolled at Huston-Tillotson University in Austin. Dr. Berry graduated three years later with a B.A. Degree in Elementary Education. She then attended Prairie View A&M University where she received a Master’s Degree in Education Administration in 1985 and a Master’s Degree in Special Education in 1986.

Dr. Berry spent the next 16 years teaching at the primary and secondary levels of education in the United States and in Europe. In 1998 she enrolled in the Doctoral program at Nova Southeastern University of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She received her Doctorate of Education degree from that institution in 2003. For the past 26 years she has served as Assistant Principal and Principal in the state of Virginia for several award winning schools. She has led over ten schools to Full Accreditation at all levels – Elementary, Middle, and High School. One of her proudest moments as an educator was leading a school that had never been accredited to full accreditation and adequate yearly progress, all within two years. She has also served as Adjunct Professor of Education at Virginia State University for the past 10 years.

“We’re really excited because we’re trying to inspire young people in the community to go into certain professions, but they may not have been exposed to people in their communities who work in those professions,” Runnels said.

Runnels said the program at Wolters Park will also recognize the accomplishments of local youth.

“It’s a opportunity for us to recognize young people who are doing wonderful things in the rural areas,” Runnels said. “A lot of times, if the kids are not athletes, they are not celebrated. But there are a lot of youth doing positive things and working hard, and we want to recognize those kids.”

The celebration will include a complimentary lunch meal of barbecue chicken, ribs, sausage, buttered potatoes and green beans. Lunch will be served starting at 12:30 p.m. There will also be music provided by DJ Ray Booker (aka “Master D”) from 12:30 to 5 p.m.

The entire event including the meal is free and open to the public.

On Sunday morning, Feb. 19, there will be a Black History Month Special Service at St. James Missionary Baptist Church in Schulenburg. The service begins at 9 a.m.

For more information contact Cathy Runnels at (737) 529-0684, Dr. Pamela Sattiewhite at (678) 477-6547 or Rev. Andrew Stafford at (979) 997-1207. Anyone interested in entering the parade should contact Robert Moore at (979) 309-9158.