Voices from the past, present and future converged Friday at Billy Mills Middle School to share messages of empowerment, community and courage in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.
Fifteen years ago, Taylor Eubanks Overton would’ve attended a similar assembly but wasn’t the typical student one might have expected to be invited back later as a guest speaker.
“But there were voices in this room and there were voices that supported me and voices that helped me understand what I could do and what I could achieve,” Overton said.
As the new co-owner of the art gallery and gift shop Art Love Collective, Overton gave the crowd the same message as the one printed on the locally created stickers she brought for students: “Your voice is powerful.”
“Your words can be used for good, they can be used for bad, but they can also inspire and influence change, just like Martin Luther King,” Overton said in her speech.
The school’s annual tribute to King’s legacy was started more than three decades ago by now-retired teacher Betty Norwood. Norwood passed the leadership torch in 2013 to Jill Jevens, who retired last year. They attended the assembly remotely and were recognized for their contributions to the long-standing tradition.
Overton, who was born and raised in Lawrence, attended seventh through ninth grades at then-South Junior High. BMMS now hosts sixth through eighth grades. The Lawrence school board voted unanimously in 2018 to rename the school in honor of Olympic Champion Billy Mills (Oglala Lakota).
Walking the halls before the assembly gave Overton “the chills,” she said, and allowed her “a full circle moment.” She described her younger self as a nontraditional student with an individualized education plan who got in trouble for failing Guy Janousek’s class. But with the school community’s help — including Norwood’s influence — Overton found her voice.
“She was one of the first Black teachers that I had,” Overton said. “Coming from a private school where not a lot of people looked like me, then to come into a space where there was a teacher that looked like me, was huge.”
Overton graduated from Lawrence High School in 2012 and went on to graduate from college. After working for Tesla and living in San Francisco, Overton returned to Lawrence in 2022. She and Devanté Green co-founded Black:30, which provides entrepreneurial support for Black and Brown local business owners.
This year, the federal holiday honoring King falls on Monday, Jan. 15, which would have been the Civil Rights Movement leader’s 95th birthday. Overton urged students during the three-day weekend to contemplate the impact their voices make on others.
“Think about your words,” Overton said. “Think about Martin Luther King’s words, and how you can use those words to influence change in our communities and how you can use those words for good.”
The event’s second guest speaker shared a message about courage — but not in the traditional cape-wearing, superhero sense.
Miosha “Yosh” Wagoner (Diné, Chickasaw) urged students to aspire to the kind of bravery that involves kindness and justice. A first-generation college student who graduated from Haskell Indian Nations University, Wagoner shared a story about a girl in her hometown of White Cone, Arizona, who wanted to play football. The girl wouldn’t give up despite being laughed at and labeled “silly.” Wagoner told the crowd the girl demonstrated courage by living out her dream.
Then Wagoner asked students to define their own dreams.
“Maybe it’s joining a club that you haven’t been a member of,” she said. “Maybe speaking up for somebody being bullied. Maybe it’s starting a project that makes your school more inclusive.”
Wagoner is Haskell’s project director for TRIO Student Support Services, a program that supports the academic achievements of disadvantaged students, and assistant coach for the women’s basketball team. She told students that, like King and the football player, they also have the power to make a difference.
“Remember that being brave doesn’t mean yelling from the top of the mountaintops. It’s sometimes a quiet determination to do what’s right, even when it’s hard,” Wagoner said. “The world needs your unique brand of awesomeness, your voice and your courage.”
A group of students and staff kicked off the assembly with a reading of Langston Hughes’ poem “I Dream a World.”
Performances were provided by choirs from LHS and BMMS. Orchestra students from BMMS also performed.
Eighth-grader Erika Rivera and librarian Jennifer Bonilla (Apache) were recognized as the school’s student and staff recipients, respectively, of the 2024 Keeper of the Dream Award.
The pair also will be acknowledged during the district’s annual King celebration at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 18 at the Lied Center along with other honorees from across the school district. Read more about that event at this link.
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Tricia Masenthin (she/her), equity reporter, can be reached at tmasenthin (at) lawrencekstimes (dot) com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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