Dr. Charles Simmons serves as president of Sojourner Douglass College.
BALTIMORE – When students, faculty and friends of Sojourner Douglass College come together Oct. 2 for the school’s annual President’s Gala and Scholarship Banquet, the focus will be on “Fulfilling the mission…Continuing the Dream.”
In addition to celebrating the life’s work of the founder and president, Dr. Charles Simmons, the event will also recognize students and community members who, through hard work and determination, make an indelible mark for the better.
This year’s honorees include Diane Bell McCoy, CEO, Associated Black Charities; Howard Henderson, CEO, Greater Baltimore Urban League and Paul Taylor, executive director, the Small Business Resource Center.
“These are people who we believe that make a difference in the lives of people in the community,” Dr. Simmons said. “The work of each one of these people, while they don’t discriminate, impacts the African American community.”
As another part of the event, three Sojourner-Douglass College students will receive scholarship money. Simmons said that to determine who gets the money, students submit applications and a committee evaluates their financial need. He said he often hears stories from students who have used the money to go on to do great things for their families, and their communities.
They will also honor “unsung heroes” from the college’s staff – people who have exerted enormous effort to realize the school’s mission.
The college depends on events like these – ticket sales fund the scholarship and the school – to keep meeting the needs of their students.
“This event serves as one of our major fund raising initiatives for scholarships for students in need of tuition assistance,” Dr. Simmons said. “Support from past sponsorships, as well as institutional funding resources, enables us on an annual basis to provide financial assistance to more than 500 students.”
“We are not like the state schools, the state doesn’t support us,” he said. “We have to use opportunities like this not just for scholarships, but for the opportunity to connect with some of the corporations and business people in the community so they’ll know who we are and what we are doing. We got support this year from the Baptist Ministers’ Conference of Baltimore, Johns Hopkins Health Systems and the Maryland Transit Administration. It’s an opportunity to keep our name before the major donors and let them know who we are and what we are doing and the difference we make in the community.”
Simmons said that as a whole, the local community has embraced and supported the school – and he’s grateful for that.
“We certainly have (been embraced) sometimes you don’t think about it until you have events like this, it’s very heartwarming to know that people appreciate the difference we make in the community.”
That kind of support is important because the school serves students that might not be as successful getting a secondary education otherwise. Dr. Simmons said Sojourner’s students often face unique challenges – most of Sojourner’s students are adults in their mid-thirties who are working and supporting their families. Dr. Simmons noticed when he went back to school as an adult, that it would have taken him as much as nine or 10 years to get the same degree younger students could achieve in a shorter time.
Sojourner Douglass College was created to serve the adult student, so they could move smoothly through school as quickly as possible. At Sojourner, students can earn a four-year degree in three years. That’s important for people who are often heads of their households, who don’t have a lot of extra time to spare.
But Dr. Simmons said it won’t all be serious business. “It gives us a chance to relax and enjoy ourselves,” he said about the event. “We always have a nice jazz band. We always make sure the food is exceptional. We have dancing. We will have a fashion show. We will have fun.”