HU Student Wins National Visionary Leadership Project

Courtney Ward 2007 Visionary Heritage Fellows Program scholarship winner.

Hampton, VA - Hampton University student Courtney Ward won the National Visionary Leadership Project's (NVLP) annual Visionary Heritage Fellows Program (VHFP) scholarship award. As the 2007 VHFP first place winner, Ward will be awarded a $3,000 scholarship. The VHFP allows college students to learn from elder African-American leaders, who have made major contributions in their fields and in the African-American community, through direct dialogue, informal mentorship, and video documentation.

Through an opportunity with the HU Honors College, Ward, a junior broadcast journalism major, had the chance to interview a legend, Dr. Mary T. Christian, Hampton University professor emeritus.

Christian, was the first African-American delegate to represent the City of Hampton, Va. in the Virginia House of Delegates, where she served nine terms. A 1955 Hampton Institute graduate, Christian later returned to her "Home by the Sea" to become dean of the School of Education.

"Dr. Christian has a great personality," stated Ward. "She can tell stories with great enthusiasm. It was her story and the way that she told it made our project unique."

Excerpts from the completed student interviews of VHFP visionaries are added to the NVLP web site and are permanently archived as part of the National Visionary Leadership Project Collection of African American Oral Histories at the Library of Congress.