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Maliyah Hickling, a graduating senior at the Rockbridge County High School, was this year’s recipient of the Jacqueline Corbin Pleasants Democratic Scholarship.
Thanks to the donors’ generosity, this year, the Lexington and Rockbridge Democrats were able to raise the amount of the scholarship to $2,500. Jade Harris, a RCHS alumna and the Democratic candidate for the 3rd District of the state senate, made the presentation of the award.
No other community member knew better than Jacqueline Corbin Pleasants how important access to free and fair public education is.
The daughter of one of Southwest Virginia’s first Black physicians, “Jackie” was born in 1916 and grew up in Virginia. She experienced first-hand the barriers to getting an education when Virginia racially segregated its schools and ended public education at the eighth grade. Benefiting from her father’s lifelong battle for civil rights and educational equality, she graduated from Virginia State College in Petersburg and she raised and educated three children.
For nearly 70 years, “Jackie” actively joined in the civic life of Lexington and Rockbridge, including as the long-serving treasurer of the Rockbridge County Democratic Committee. When asked how she would like to be honored for her many years of community service, she replied, “Find a way to use my name to help young people to get a college education.” In 2008, the Democratic committees of Lexington and Rockbridge County did just that, and have awarded yearly scholarships to deserving students ever since.
Hickling will be attending James Madison University beginning this fall. She plans to major in education and human services.
From Jade Harris’s presentation of the scholarship: “This student achieved an outstanding grade point average, volunteered within the community, was a member of several athletic and business oriented activities, maintained multiple jobs, and even founded a multicultural student union alongside advocating for the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion, right here in these halls. Near and dear to my own heart as a former one myself, this student was also a library assistant. Looking to the future, this student shares the same appreciation and respect for education as this scholarship’s namesake; not only will this student be majoring in education and human services, but this student has already begun preparations early through future teacher focused course work here at the high school.”
