Two Boston professionals will reflect on their experiences as METCO students in the Bedford schools during the annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day community celebration on Monday morning.
Jameel Moore, vice president of the Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association, and the Rev. Clarence Powell, founder and pastor of Abundant Life Deliverance Temple in Dorchester, will answer questions as part of a panel discussion with Akil Mondesir, METCO director of the Bedford schools and a 1998 BHS alumnus.
The free event is sponsored annually by Bedford Embraces Diversity, which encourages the public to attend. The celebration will be in the Student Center at Middlesex Community College, 591 Springs Rd., at 10:30 a.m. There are plans for an array of refreshments. Reservations may be made by writing [email protected].
This is the 50th year of the Bedford schools’ affiliation with METCO, and that is the theme of the annual King Day event. Leaders of local government, education, military, commercial, and civic life are expected to attend.
Moore, a 1997 BHS graduate, earned her bachelor’s degree in political science and English from Boston College, and her juris doctor from Boston University School of Law. She is an attorney with the Boston firm Anderson & Kreiger, advising clients on a wide array of commercial real estate transactions.
A member of the Board of Directors of One Family, a nonprofit helping Massachusetts families experiencing homelessness or living with low incomes, Moore co-chairs the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Steering Committee of the Boston Bar Association.
Powell graduated from BHS in 1989. He points out that he comes from a church family – in 1950 his grandfather founded a church in South Carolina and 22 years later, his grandparents started Highway Church of Christ, later known as New Life Restoration Temple in Boston.
A doctoral student at Gordon-Conwell theological seminary, Powell will also be the featured speaker and vocalist at Monday’s celebration. He will speak on the general theme of King’s vision, and will sing with accompaniment by singers and a keyboardist.
When the third Monday in January was established as a national holiday honoring King, it included a community service component. Bedford Embraces Diversity is supporting the Bedford Food Bank by requesting donations of personal care and hygiene products and household paper goods.
There are donation receptacles in the Bedford schools and St. Paul’s Church on Pine Hill Road, and those attending the event Monday morning can bring items for donation there.
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