Selena Ruth Smith Named Grand Marshal of the 24th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dream Walk
The Dream Walk will be held Monday, January 15
Sumter, SC (01/12/2024) — The University of South Carolina Sumter has announced the Grand Marshal for the 24th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dream Walk will be Deaconess Selena Ruth Smith.
Ms. Smith is a native of Mayesville, SC. She is the daughter of the late Lawrence Smith, Jr. and the late Ruth Wilson Smith and she has one brother, Kenneth J. Smith. After earning her bachelor's degree from Kaplan University, she went on to complete her master's degree at Columbia Southern University. She's a member of St. Mark United Methodist Church in Mayesville, and a former elected official for the Mayesville Town Council. Currently she sits on the board of directors for the Sumter County Election & Voter Registration, Tandem Health, Sumter YMCA, the Sumter Mayor's Prayer Breakfast, and The Forum. She is also a notary in the State of South Carolina.
Ms. Smith is employed by the City of Sumter as a firefighter, fire prevention specialist, EMT and is a member of the South Carolina Fire Association Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee. She was commissioned as Deaconess for the United Methodist Church on April 29th, 2012, at General Conference in Tampa, Florida, and her ministry is Fire Safety in places of Worship. Ms. Smith is a former board member of The Advocate, which is a South Carolina Conference monthly periodical, and the South Carolina Annual United Methodist Conference Committee. Her motto is: "I'm Confident, not Conceited," and her favorite scripture is Galatians 3:28, "There is neither Jew or Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ".
The Dream Walk will be held on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Monday, January 15. The event is free and open to the public and is held at the USC Sumter Nettles Building (near the corner of University Dr and Theater Dr). Registration for the walk will begin at 8:30 a.m. A program of celebration will be held at 9 a.m. and will include a speech from the walk's Grand Marshal, Selena Ruth Smith, student presentations, and songs from the Morris College Choir. The 3-mile walk will begin at 9:40 a.m.
The Dream Walk is sponsored and organized by Central Carolina Technical College, Morris College, and USC Sumter. The committee's goal is to acknowledge and celebrate the meaning and purpose of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.
For more information, please contact Alethia Hummel, USC Sumter, alethiah@mailbox.sc.edu or 803-938-3728.
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USC Sumter announced the Grand Marshal for the 24th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dream Walk will be Deaconess Selena Ruth Smith.