Dr. Margaret Brewington Wright will serve as speaker as Pastor Julius Sumler and the New Rocky Valley Baptist Church celebrate its Annual Women’s Day on Sunday, April 28. The church is located on 2155 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. in Grambling.
Services will begin at 9:30 a.m. with Sunday School taught by Sarah Dennis and Brenda Lewis of Zion Travel Baptist Church of Ruston along with Gloria George of Mt. Harmony Baptist Church of Ruston and Gertrude Roebuck of Christ Temple in Ruston.
Dr. Wright received her early Christian education in St. Mark Church of Christ in Goldsboro, where she played an active leadership role in the youth ministry, serving as president of the choir and Christian youth organization. She moved to Grambling in 2011 with husband Carl, dean of the College of Business at Grambling State University. She became a member of the New Rocky Valley Baptist Church, where she sings in the choir, assists with the youth ministry and Christian education.
Dr. Wright received her former education from the public schools of Goldsboro, N. C., where she was one of the five African American children serving on the leadership team to plan the integration of high schools in the Goldsboro City school system, during the late 60’s. She graduated from Goldsboro High, having being elected president of the state and local student council, president of local youth NAACP and second vice president of state youth NAACP, debate team, cheerleading and a host of other activities.
As a recipient of post secondary education, she holds a bachelor of art and master of fine arts degrees in theatre from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; a master of school administration and a Ph.D in educational research and policy analysis with a minor in curriculum and instruction and from North Carolina State University.
She has received theological training at Ashland Theological Seminary in Ashland, Ohio in formational counseling and currently at Interdenominational Theological Seminary, Atlanta, hosted at New Rocky Valley Church.
As a veteran educator and an enthusiast for the arts, she has served for over three decades in a myriad of roles: author; education consultant; rehabilitation therapist; public school teacher (theatre, English, dance, and gifted education); instructor Dabney S. Lancaster Community College in Clifton Forge, Virginia and Meredith College in Raleigh, (Theatre and Speech); school principal in Virginia Commonwealth University’s a hospital education, a mental health hospital, and a juvenile correctional facility.