UNIONVILLE-CHADDS FORD WALL OF HONOR INDUCTION

This is the plaque marking my induction into the Hall of Honor in the Unionville – Chadds Ford School District, where I attended both middle and high schools in my hometown of Chester County, Pennsylvania. To view the entire plaque, simply click on the photo of it above to expand the view of it.

The Induction Ceremony was held yesterday, on Friday, October 5 2018, during the Homecoming Weekend for Unionville-Chadds Ford School District. Unfortunately, my speaking schedule for Domestic Violence Awareness Month prevented me from being present for the actual induction ceremony. However, Betsy Hickman, who serves as UCF High School Faculty and who nominated me for this Lifetime Achievement Award, was present at the Induction Ceremony on my behalf. Being nominated by Betsy Hickman was an honor, as she was one of my English teachers in UCF Middle School before she moved to the UCF High School and then became my English teacher again. Betsy has supported my writing and activism since I was a teenager, and her encouragement of my efforts across the decades has been invaluable to me.

Chester County, Pennsylvania, especially the Unionville-Chadds Ford region of it, has a long and celebrated history of both revolutionaries and artists. Key moments of the Revolutionary War occurred on our fields and the banks of the Brandywine River within miles of where I grew up. Artists as accomplished and varied as N.C. Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth, Jamie Wyeth, Howard Pyle, Maxfield Parrish, among many others, lived and worked in Chadds Ford, leading to the Brandywine School and The Brandywine River Museum, among other notable arts-based organizations in my hometown. I’m deeply proud of our long history of revered revolutionaries and world-renowned artists, and I’m so honored by this acknowledgment of my lifetime achievements by Unionville – Chadds Ford, especially as the FIRST POET and the FIRST ACTIVIST to be inducted in the history of this program.

I extend my deepest gratitude to every person who has believed in me as I have pursued my dreams and who has offered their support of my efforts as both a writer and an activist over the years, as well their presence during this truly remarkable week that I am blessed enough to be experiencing. Thank you.

All peace to each one of you. Dora