The fifth annual scholarship fundraiser of the Pearl High School Heritage Classes Foundation is scheduled to convene at the Millennium Maxwell House Hotel at 6 pm on Friday, August 9.  The  hotel is located at 2025 Rosa L. Parks Blvd. in Nashville, Tenn.

According to Novella Page, chairperson of the Foundation’s Scholarship Committee, there is mounting excitement about the scholarship recipients this year.

“The foundation’s scholarship committee is very impressed with this year’s applicants,” said Ms. Page. “We are looking forward to a loving evening, at the banquet, for a wonderful cause.”

Graduates receiving scholarships are identified below: Quanique Coffman, M.L. King Jr. Magnet High School, plans to attend U.T. Knoxville; Imani Fields, Spring Hill High School, accepted by Howard University, Washington, D.C., Darian Frierson, Cane Ridge High School, will attend U.T., Knoxville; LaDoverick Huggins, Jr. University School of Nashville, accepted at Univ. of Cincinnati, College Conservatory of Music; Sayyid Love, M.L. King Jr. Magnet High School, will enroll at Fisk University; Clinton Ricks, Pearl-Cohn Magnet High School, accepted at U.T., Knoxville; Antonio Turner, Whites Creek High School, to  attend Lipscomb University; and Destinee Wright,  Beech High School, accepted at Western Kentucky University.

Page said the distinguished Dr. Reavis Mitchell, Fisk University’s  renowned historian, headlines the event. Dr. Mitchell, a native of Nashville, is also an author as well as a faculty member at the university.

Dr. Mitchell is a past member of Metro Nashville’s Historical Commission. He is presently vice president of the Tennessee Historical Commission. He has been awarded the W.E. B. DuBois Social Award as a leading American social scientist by the National Association of Social and Behavioral Scientist. He is also an active member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

Dr. Mitchell is one of a list of notable talents from Fisk University as well as a 1965 graduate of Pearl High School. He continues to play a pivotal role in preserving, recording and disseminating historical, information about the importance of Fisk University, it’s contributions and significance to the city of Nashville.
Fisk University is acknowledged as the seat of many highly acclaimed, celebrated and historically significant icons such as the Jubilee Singers; social scientist and activist, W.E.B. DuBois; composer and musician, John W. Work; poet, Arna Bontemps; and artist, Aaron Douglas.

Pearl High School Heritage Classes Foundation, Inc. was organized “to perpetuate an awareness of and pride in the Pearl High School legacy.” Toward that end, the foundation has initiated a scholarship fund to reward academic excellence, and to encourage post-secondary education aspirations among descendants of Pearl High School alumni—to guarantee that revisionist history can never marginalize the high school or ignore its contributions to the local culture. Surviving graduates of the institution, led by 1954 graduate Gwendolyn Sharp work tirelessly to present the bi-annual scholarship banquet event to help further the education of those descendants. Historically, Pearl High School (which was established specifically for the education of Black people) has enjoyed national esteem among educators and citizens alike as a Mecca for superior secondary education in Nashville.