Welcome to the special meeting of the Greensboro City Council.

Today is Monday, December 8th, 2025.

We are in the Katie Dorset Council Chambers.

And I will ask someone to read the motion for closed session.

I move that the council enter closed session pursuant to NCGS 143-318.11 a 10 to view recording release pursuant to GS 132-1.4.

Do you want to hear a second?

A second.

That is moved by Miss Thurms, seconded by Miss Black.

All in favor, please say aye.

Thank you.

We shall return after the closed session.

My name is Janita Chase.

And I am Hassan Pitts, and together we have been working underneath the moniker of SN for many years as an interdisciplinary multimedia artist sound video and everything else.

And we look forward to inviting you into the Grow Residency from November 6th until December 15th.

Well, we're trying to um do an immersive video-based uh installation that we hope will um connect largely with movement and uh remix a little bit of archival footage from the Greensboro History Museum and contemporary everyday Greensboro footage that we've been collecting for the last several months.

I think there's that that dual duality of being able to like replicate reality, but then also be able to like play manipulate create with the lens through the lens.

Uh that's always been particularly interesting.

You can find us online at signal to noise.com, and we are signal to noise on Instagram as well.

It kind of sounds like the premise of a book, right?

Well, it is, but it's also a whole lot more than just printed pages.

Laura Carney is a journalist and author, and she's finishing up a two-week stay in Greensboro as part of one city one book community read.

Hello, and welcome.

Hi, it's so nice to be here.

Good to have you with us.

Okay, let's start by just talking a little bit about you.

What were you like as a little girl?

Oh gosh, I was very shy, very pensive.

Um, I was in um accelerated classes from a young age and very academic, and I just love to draw all day long, basically.

And I played a lot of sports.

I was a tomboy too.

A reader and writer as a child.

Oh, big time.

I started reading my mom claims I was three, but I don't remember.

Okay, wow, that's impressive.

I'm guessing that your parents read to you as a child a lot.

Yes, a lot.

Yeah, my grandmother too.

Oh, that's great.

All right, so tell us about your dad, because this is this is leading somewhere.

Tell us about your dad.

Um, oh, my dad uh was uh a writer himself, and he was a salesman by day, and he actually uh sits he sung and he was a comedian in nightclubs.

That night's a lot, yeah.

What was that like uh growing up with him like doing all those things?

Oh he you know, he just was one of those people who uh sang more than he spoke and was always on, always entertaining everybody, always always making jokes all the time.

Yeah, very charismatic.

I I'm picturing him making up songs uh about you guys when it you know, just the getting ready song or the breakfast song.

Yeah, well, you know, there actually wasn't a lot of that because my parents divorced when I was six.

So I would see him twice a week.

But it was always very um undivided attention from him when we did see him.

I love that.

And you lost him when you were young, 25 years old.

Yes.

Tell us about that.

What was that like?

Um it's interesting you say that because since doing this project of finishing his bucket list for him and writing this book, I don't even think of it as having lost him anymore.

But but he did die when I was 25 um in a car crash with a teenager who was using her phone and went through the next intersection where he was, which was very it was devastating.

It was, yeah.

And um you found though a little bit later, for years later, a list that he had left, a bucket list.

Tell us about how did you find it?

What was that like?

Sure.

Well, it was actually 13 years later.

Um I was I had just gotten married six months before, and my brother was moving into his first house, and when they were moving in as he was unpacking, he he discovered that they had this bucket list that my dad wrote, which we later found out he wrote it when he was 29.

So he wrote it the year I was born.

Um and I just knew immediately I needed to finish it for him.

I had actually become a safe driving activist at that point.

I'd been doing that for a couple of years, but even that happened very much by happenstance because I was a copy of her at good housekeeping.

I managed to accomplish my dream of working at a magazine in New York, what I had moved there for the year that he died, and I had sort of become blocked as a writer because there was one really important story I needed to tell, but I was too afraid to tell the story of the year that he died.

Um so I became an activist, and as soon as we saw the list, I really think that part of the reason I knew immediately I needed to finish this list for him to honor him was because of the activism.

Because I thought, well, maybe people will understand this was a full human being who had dreams just like anyone else does, and that's what happens when someone dies in one of these car crashes.

Instead of just a line in the newspaper.

Yeah, just a statistic, because I think we can start to look at people that way sometimes.

Let's dive into the list of what so the list uh how did you where did it was in a box?

Was it in an envelope?

Did it, you know, was it was there any fanfare around it?

Was it scribbled times?

I was folded up three folded up pieces of notebook paper front and back.

Yeah, a little and and I actually have since learned that my dad uh kept that list in his wallet all the time.

That's why it was folded and it had survived the car crash.

It was in the car with him.

Wow.

Yeah, okay.

So what struck you first about the list?

Oh, um, just how funny it was.

Like my my dad didn't have uh very easily decipherable handwriting, so my brother and I really got a chuckle out of reading that, but um, you know, it was some of the items were so dramatic, like swim the width of a river, the way he would say it.

I mean, he was a writer and he was very dramatic, but I actually ended up doing that out in Asheville.

I I swam across the French broad.

Um, but you know, I I as I went through the list, I one thing that really struck me was how many of the items my brother and I had already done.

You know, I I would say by coincidence, but I don't think anything is really by coincidence.

And yeah, I mean we are our father's children, so you know I had been to Paris, and you know, I had become a marathon runner, so I you know, run ten miles straight seemed like an easy one for me to start with.

Um so yeah, it was more I couldn't believe it, like wow, we we really have been kind of accidentally following in our father's footsteps all along.

And then of course there were very sweet items.

Right.

Um, make my or it was give my children the best education, the best example and the most love I can give.

And what really struck me about that one was it looked like he had added most love later, like at the top, as though he was afraid perhaps he had not given us the best example.

Had he checked off some things on the list?

I know he had.

Yeah, uh well, there are 60 items, and my mom's not sure, you know, did he finish writing the whole thing in 1978?

We don't know.

Maybe he added it a little bit later in life, but um there were 60 items.

The ones that he did were he did five of them.

So uh help my parents enjoy their retirement, um, have an impressive record collection, uh, see a world series game live, uh, do a stand-up monologue in a a comedy monologue in a nightclub, which I'm so relieved he did because I didn't want to do that.

Um and then it was uh oh gosh, what was the fifth one?

Um have gosh, what was it?

I I'm so I'm I'm stuck right now.

I'm stuck here but but I do remember that there was one that he had marked, oh he that's this is why he had marked one as having failed, which was pay my dad back a thousand dollars plus interest, yeah.

And and so, and so how did you go about finishing this?

You and your well, first you did do first did you check off things that you and your brother had already done?

Yeah, I mean I sort of did, but then as I was going through it, I I began realizing like some of them uh were worth doing again, just it just made sense to do that.

But but yeah, like visit Paris, for example, I had already done that, so I wasn't gonna pay for another trip back to Paris.

I mean, it wouldn't be a bad idea.

So things like I realized in in the in the um in the outline of telling the story as I wrote the book about my father's list, I could include a flashback to having gone to Paris before.

Yeah.

So uh okay, we're gonna dive some more into the book is my father's list, in case you didn't get that already.

Um it's this year's community read for one city, one book in Greensboro.

You can find out more about it and uh all the events surrounding it, um, make your own bucket list, all kinds of things like that.

Uh start at Greensborough Library.com.

Now we're gonna dive more into my father's list.

We're going to find out exactly how Laura completed it and how it changed her.

That's coming up right after this break.

Welcome back to Gate City Insider.

Our guest today is Laura Carney.

She's author of My Father's List Selection for This Year's One City, One Book.

And um when when you first decided to finish this list, you you made a plan, you're you're gonna do it.

I'm wondering, were there things that you thought would be easy, things that you thought would be hard, and did those shift once you kind of really got started get got started on it.

Yes.

Well, you know, one of the things I I discovered early on was any time I thought something was too easy, like I thought uh beat a number one seed at tennis would be easy because I wait, wait, wait, you thought that would be easy.

Well, I played on my high school tennis team.

Okay.

So when it was something like that, like, oh, you know, I've I have some experience with this, and and I've been having a stroke of luck with these first 14 items, so I'll just do this one in one day.

Uh-huh.

Just check it off, move to the next, like we do with to-do lists sometimes.

When I started developing that attitude, that's when it would become disastrous.

I actually ended up injuring my foot on the tennis court.

Uh, I had a foot surgery later that year, and uh, you know, gradually became afraid I might not be able to run ever again.

Oh no.

But the lesson in that ended up being letting my husband take care of me, which was something that was difficult for me in general.

It was so self-sufficient, you know.

Um, but that I I gradually began to learn that I needed to approach each each list item with this attitude of uh humility and kindness.

So it could also could never be a thing where I was being arrogant.

Um, you know, you would think that type 40 words a minute correctly would be easy, but that actually ended up having its own difficulties with it.

Um my brother did that one with me, and he actually uh he did it, I think he did 63 words a minute correctly.

Correct.

Of course, he did it right before me.

Um harder ones, uh I would say number three on the list, write and have a few novels published.

That was probably one of the most difficult.

But uh have five songs recorded, that was the most emotionally difficult for me because my dad was a singer, and I ended up choosing uh the songs he sang to us when we were kids.

So I actually did that one very at the end, but they were always surprising.

You know, some would take a day, some could take three years.

Uh correspond with the Pope, that only took me six weeks, and I got a letter back.

And you would have thought that would have been really hard.

Yeah, that's why I put it off until year six.

But it was actually it actually happened right away.

So that's really cool.

Okay, so six years living out your father's list, his dreams.

How did it change how you thought about him?

And how did it change how you thought about you?

Um, you know, uh leading up to finding that bucket list, uh part of why I became a copy editor in magazines was because I needed to be adjacent to creative people, but I was often too timid to actually take creative risks myself as a writer.

So it was like at least I'm sort of here, and I always sort of uh misunderstood my dad's creativity growing up.

And I would feel like, oh, I wish he could just stick to one job, you know.

I wish he could stick to one idea.

And as I began doing this bucket list, obviously with 54 items in six years, I'm switching from idea to idea quite a lot.

And I actually became a freelancer then, and now I have like 11 different freelance copy editing jobs.

That is not something I ever would have chosen.

Right.

I would have said that's too crazy, that's too risk-taking, but now that's the kind of person I've become, and I've actually begun to understand that I thrive in situations where I'm doing lots of different things because I'm my father's daughter, and it was a thing I had resisted, but it actually makes me more creative.

And you'd said you'd really resisted writing about and thinking about when your father died, and this changed that too.

Well, yeah, it's it is um that's one of the things we talked about at at our kickoff on Tuesday because my friend Melanie Brooks was here and she wrote this wonderful book I'd recommend for everybody to go read called Writing Hard Stories.

Uh I actually bought that book for myself when I started.

So and now we're friends, isn't that crazy?

That's very cool.

Um but it's it was about how how to go about writing about something traumatic and and it was just very difficult for me to revisit that.

But you know what?

The list would help take care of that too sometimes because when I was stuck on that couch after my foot surgery and I couldn't go anywhere, that was when I wrote the chapter about my dad's funeral because I could no longer run away from myself.

But and I also want to add though, one thing that was very healing about this project is when I was able to go back and write about the more difficult moments and also you know, my parents divorced and I was six, that was difficult to write about too.

Uh, I was able to now integrate the sadder moments in in my life into the long longer timeline.

And there was something about doing that that really healed the trauma that was still left over inside of me.

Yeah.

You started writing about the list as you started working on it.

So what made you want to do that?

And then and writing about it is one thing.

Sharing it is another thing too.

So what what was kind of the thought behind both of those and and what led you to actually share it and make it into a book?

I always thought this was activism from the beginning.

I always thought this is something where all of my friends I've met who've lost children this way, who've had other family members die this way, you know, I'm gonna get to be their voice and do this for them.

So e on the days, even the days where it was like, you know, I don't feel like jumping out of an airplane today.

Like I would make myself do it.

It I would say, well, my fear doesn't matter as much as it does to get their message out there into the world.

So that was what it was in the beginning.

But then I gradually began to realize that I was feeling better doing this, and I was becoming more confident doing this.

And I think what it gradually became was this expression of a person who heals from grief from traumatic grief, and also uh an expression of a of a woman who learns how to be who she really is.

So I think it started to gradually become a story about authenticity.

Um and that I think has actually uh touched more people and and is the reason that the book has caught on the way that it has.

Yeah, all right.

We're gonna um talk more about um my father's list, the community read for one city one book.

Again, uh Greensboro Library.com is where you can find out more about it and uh a little bit more with Laura right after this quick break.

We're back on Gate City Insider with author Laura Carney.

Uh she wrote my father's list, how living my dad's dream set me free.

We're talking our last segment, and you talked about your activism, and you talked about it really around grief and and trying to give people voices and to name their grief and to live through it.

But you also are active before this book, before the list, you were active.

Uh it talk about distracted driving.

You want to talk a little bit about that.

Yeah, um, I mean, it has kind of become the new drunk driving in a way, except for the fact that we all have iPhones now or some version of an iPhone.

And and it's I think at some point it I it dawned on me that it wasn't that people didn't know, it was rather it had become convenient for people to just use their phones at all times.

So you get into the car and it's just another place that you're sitting in.

And I had learned so much about what it actually does to your brain.

I mean, even if you make a hands-free phone call, it it affects the your field of vision through the windshield.

Um, and I I started doing very much straight activism with that, but at some point I started learning about the power of positivity and how if you actually give people positive reinforcement, that makes a difference too.

And that started to feel more aligned with who my dad was as a person.

He wasn't someone who ever shook his finger at anyone or shamed anybody.

So I thought at one point, well, what if I become someone who just really values my life by doing this intentional living?

And I started writing my own bucket list, and now I actually teach bucket listing at uh Modern Prairie, which is the actress Melissa Gilbert's brand.

And I just think if you're a person who is intentional about your life and you're mindful about what you're doing, you're not gonna be the type of person who drives distracted anyway.

I love that.

I love that connection.

And that was my next question about your list.

We share some of the things on your list.

Sure.

Well, one of them was hike the Lenape Trail, which my husband and I just did, but that was one of the ones that took longer than I thought, because it took us a whole year because we did it over on the weekends.

It's how long?

Uh 36 miles, but I believe we did 72 because we'd have to park and then go and then come back.

Right, right, right, right.

But I became an avid hiker doing that, and it became just a fun free activity for my husband and I to do on weekends.

Um, a lot of mine are actually hiking related.

I really would love to hike the Camino in Spain.

And I'm sort of working my way up to it.

Um, Pike's Peak, I went to go try to climb Pike's Peak, it didn't go as well as I hoped, so I'm gonna have to go back.

But that's the thing with list items.

Um I'm learning is it's not about the outcome as much as it is the journey.

So if you choose something that your heart is yearning to do, it's because you're supposed to get something from that.

Yeah.

So does your list grow?

Does it change?

I need to stop.

I have like 290 items at this point, and it's probably because it's on my laptop, so it's so easy to just open it and type a new.

But is it feel pretty good to check one off?

It has to, right?

Yeah, that's part of it.

I think I've checked 80 off now, 290.

So I'm doing okay.

Yeah, yeah.

And the idea is to keep making your list.

So, speaking of, do you have recommendations?

So, how do you start a list and and what do you encourage people to think of when they're making their list?

Well, what we teach uh in our modern prairie class, I teach it with uh a woman named Stacey Lauren, who who founded the Do the Thing Challenge.

And we're actually doing it right now.

If you want to join us, Greensboro, we're do I shouldn't have looked over there, but but if you want to join us, we're we're doing it on a private Facebook group.

So all you have to do is go to the Greensboro Library page and you can find it.

Um so uh what I recommend take 15 minutes and write down a list of values.

Do that first because there's something about writing that values list that gets you centered, and you stop becoming someone who's living for what other people expect of you, and then write down just five.

Just start with five and take a month and try to do at least one of the five.

Okay.

That can be hard, especially if you have these big adventures, the big adventures, but they don't always have to be so big.

I mean, I think you know that you know they don't have to be good at Paris, they don't have to be skydive.

No, my dad had grow a watermelon on there.

Plant it plant an apple tree.

Yeah.

Did you grow a watermelon?

I did, but it was only about this big it counts, right?

It was green and pink on the inside, or be separated.

Yeah, it was it was more about turning me into a gardener, which I never thought I could be living just outside of New York City.

To make something with your own hands, right?

Yeah.

What do you hear from readers who have started to make their list to live their list to be more authentic?

Oh gosh, so many things.

You know, I think it's it's there's something about how honest the book is, and you know, I'm not superwoman doing these list items.

There's uh, you know, when I when I ran the 10 miles straight, it was in the LA Marathon and I started peeing my pants while running down Rodeo Drive.

When I jumped out of an airplane, I'd had an apple for breakfast that day, and I threw up midair.

You know, I I made sure I included these ridiculous things that happened because I wanted to be clear, I'm just a regular person trying to do something extraordinary.

And I think there's something about the energy of that that when people read this book, it helps them to recognize oh, if she can do this, I can do this too.

And that doesn't just apply to bucket lists, it also applies to people who have an important story to tell, but they're too afraid to tell it.

So I do actually I have a lot of people now who've asked me to help them publish a memoir or even self-publish.

And you know, my husband and I, he's a book designer, I'm a copy editor.

So hey, if you have a story, like we're happy to help you do it.

You love to tell a story, right?

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, I'm a journalist at heart.

That's telling other people's stories.

Yeah, I I know it.

Yeah.

So what was your dad think of this?

What would he think of the book about you finished about you finishing the list, then writing a book, and then passing it on like you have.

Oh gosh, you're gonna make me cry.

Um, you know, I think it's the thing that we just said.

I think it's that it's not only that I had faith in him that he was leading me every step of the way doing this because he was, but I've now become a person who emboldens other people, and I teach them that they can accomplish anything they set their mind to because if you have a dream, the universe wants to see you get it done.

I love it.

I love it.

Well, you can check out Laura's book for the library, of course, or buy it at one of our many wonderful locally owned bookstores.

Find out more about my father's list and the One City One Book program by going to Greensboro Library.com.

From all of us here at Greensboro Television Network, thank you for spending some time with us.

Have a great day.

Greetings.

Good afternoon.

Welcome to the Barber Park Event Center, home of the Ruth Wicker tribute to women.

My name is Carla Banks.

I am honored to serve as the MC for today's program, and we are so glad to see each and every one of you.

At this time, we always like to start programming by acknowledging any of our elected officials who are joining us.

If you are an elected official, please stand or wave so we can recognize you.

Thank you.

Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to be here today.

As I look around the room, I am surrounded and certainly in awe to be surrounded by such impressive women.

Just take a moment, look around the room and just take this all in.

You are ambitious, you are brilliant, you are confident, unapologetically authentic, and accomplished.

And from where I'm standing, your sense of style definitely on point.

Give yourselves a round of applause.

Thank you for joining us for the annual Women's Equality Day luncheon hosted by the City of Greensboro and the Commission on the Status of Women.

This marks the first year the luncheon is being paired with the biennial induction for the Ruth Wicker Tribute to Women.

Today's honorees will join the 46 individuals and four organizations previously etched in the permanent tribute exhibit, which has celebrated local women and their achievements and community contributions for the past six years.

Prepare to celebrate today's inductees while being inspired by the dynamic motivational speech which will be delivered by none other than Miss Leah McNair, lead pastor of Circle City Church in High Point.

Without further ado, we will begin today's program.

Please welcome Pam McAdoo Rogers, Chair of the Commission on the Status of Women.

She is also a tribute to women inductee from the inaugural class of 2019.

Pam will deliver an outline of the work and the purpose of the Commission.

Good afternoon.

As chair of the Commission on the Status of Women, it is my honor to welcome you to our Women's Equality Day luncheon featuring the Ruth Wicker tribute women tribute to women induction.

This occasion brings together community leaders, advocates, and supporters to celebrate the progress of women to honor those who have led with vision and to recommit ourselves to the work still ahead.

Today we reflect on the 19th Amendment and the long struggle for women's suffrage, which reminds us that equality is never simply given.

Women's Equality Day is not only a celebration of history, but also a call to action, a reminder that the journey toward full equality in pay, opportunity, representation, and safety continues.

We are especially proud to induct this year's honorees into the Ruth Wicker Tribute to Women.

Ruth Wicker's life and service embody the values, leadership, compassion, and resilience.

Through this tribute, we not only honor extraordinary women who make a difference in our community, but we also inspire the next generation to step forward and leave with purpose.

The Greensboro Commission on the Status of Women carries that same spirit forward and dedicated to identifying the needs of women and girls in our city and working to improve their quality of life.

Some of our key initiatives include research and advocacy.

The commission published the 2022 Women of Greensboro Report, which surveyed local women and identified key challenges in areas like health care, mental health, money, and safety, educational programs, hosting forums such as our leadership services series, workshops, community engagement, creating platforms for women and girls to have a voice in decision making, including listening sessions and celebration and recognition, sponsoring events like today's luncheon to uplift and honor women who have meaningful contributions to Greensboro's progress.

As we celebrate Women's Equality Day and honor the remarkable 2025 Ruth Wicker tribute to women inductees, let us carry forward the commission's mission to break down barriers to advocate for equality, equity, and to build a Greensboro where every woman and girl can reach her full potential.

Let's get to work.

And I believe we will have each of our inductees come forward as I have the pleasure of introducing this year's inductees to the Ruth Wicker Tribute for Women.

We have some gifts for you and what looks like an official certification.

The nominations for those of you who aren't familiar with the process were submitted by the public, and these women were selected for their outstanding contributions to the greater Greensboro community.

I will call you up one at a time.

Starlina Green.

Darlena is a 2005 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

She has spent more than 20 years empowering others and giving back to this community.

Starlina is the founder of Real Life Incorporated, a nonprofit focused on providing financial assistance, educational resources, and referrals to families and single parents.

This work strengthens community support systems and promotes self-sufficiency for those in need.

Congratulations.

Mayor Vaughn has served as Greensboro Mayor since 2013.

She previously wore the hats of Mayor Pro Tem and City Council member dating back to 1997.

Her leadership extends to board memberships for a host of community organizations.

Mayor Vaughn has been a staunch champion for economic development, resulting in the expansion of diversified job sectors with impressive salaries.

Congratulations.

Julia is a senior partner at Susan Hunt Law, where she provides a state planning services.

She is recognized for developing and sharing community resources, including a YouTube series to increase public understanding of estate planning.

Julia is a mentor and active participant with Campus Greensboro and Synergy.

These organizations are dedicated to the development of young professionals.

Congratulations.

Rachel is a recording artist, motivational speaker, and life coach.

Her achievements and impacts center on creativity.

Rachel has encouraged hundreds of people through her gospel music and inspirational videos.

Girl Talk International is the faith-based nonprofit she established in 2009 to empower and inspire women.

Rachel also ministers at the Kingdom Vision Life Center in Greensboro and is the founder of Rachel Wilson Ministries Incorporated.

Congratulations.

The induction is obviously an honor, but anytime you're inducted into a group of any kind, there is usually a charge that goes with that.

Now to deliver the charge to the inductees, please welcome Robin Davis, owner of Maxi B's Bakery, and 2023 tribute to women inductee.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Starlena Green, Mayor Nancy Vaughan, Julia Walker, Rachel Wilson.

Today you join a powerful legacy.

You become part of a circle of visionaries, pioneers, and change makers whose stories are enshrined in the tribute to women exhibit at Barbara Park.

Since 2019, this living history has uplifted educators, advocates, philanthropists, leaders, and barrier breakers.

Women whose courage and conviction have shaped Greensboro and beyond.

With your induction, you do more than receive recognition.

We ask you to continue leading with integrity, lifting others as you rise and making visible the contributions of women in every sphere of life.

You carry forward the spirit of Ruth Wicker, whose generosity and vision created this space to ensure women's stories will never again be overlooked or forgotten.

Your names are now permanently woven into this fabric of progress.

The charge before you is to honor this recognition by remaining bold in action, unwavering in service, and steadfast and opening doors for future generations.

May your example remind every woman and girl who visits this exhibit that her voice matters, her presence matters, and her contributions matter.

Inductees, we celebrate you, we honor you, and we charge you to keep blazing trails so that the story of women in Greensboro and in our world continues to grow brighter, stronger, and more inclusive for years to come.

Thank you.

In addition to recognizing and lifting up our inductees, we have a phenomenal keynote speaker.

I had the distinct pleasure of meeting today's keynote in her element just a few short months ago when I visited her church on Friends and Family Day.

In addition to being the lead pastor of Circle City Church in High Point, Leah McNair is an entrepreneur, public speaker, and author.

She founded Sister Circle International, which is a nonprofit dedicated to women's empowerment.

With more than 27 years in the ministry, she has graduated from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro with a bachelor in public health education.

There's more.

In December, she will earn her Masters of Divinity from Virginia Union University.

In addition to that, this year, she has been part of the Leadership Greensboro class.

And she is the author of five books, one of which is entitled 21 Days of Powerful Prayers for Women.

And this actually set the foundation for the Sister Circle International, which she established in 2020.

It is worth noting that the organization started with merely 40 women.

Today they are more than 10,000 women strong across the entire United States.

Please put your hands together and prepare to be moved by the powerful voice and motivational message.

Give a warm city of Greensboro welcome to Miss Leah McNair.

Good afternoon, everybody.

And I know we got a few fellas in the building, but ladies, I would like you to find another lady around you and just look at her real good and say, girl, you are bad somebody.

You hear me.

You are a bad somebody.

You're a bad somebody.

Fellas, we'll get to y'all in a minute.

We'll get to y'all in a minute.

But girl, you are a bad somebody.

Do you hear me?

You are amazing.

You are amazing.

And it is an honor to celebrate women today.

It is an honor to have our elected officials here today.

And our bad to the bone mayor, Mayor Nancy Vaughn.

We honor you today.

It is only right that we celebrate how far we have come.

A little over five decades ago, Congress declared this day as women's equality day.

Not just to remember history, but so that we could live out loud our callings.

This is not just a date on the calendar, y'all, but this is a date with destiny.

It's a daily grind grind.

It's a relentless grit of real women with real names, real problems, but real callings that cause them to rise to the occasion, even when times get tough.

And today we honor four such women who have carried their communities forward with their vision, with their courage, and with their strength.

We don't have to know you personally to know that it wasn't easy for you to get where you are today.

I mean, I really want to be honest.

Can I just be down to earth today?

It's hard being a woman.

It's hard being a woman.

It's a tough job being a woman.

We gotta look beautiful, stay hydrated, keep the clothes washed and folded, raise our kids, raise grandkids, raise other people's kids that we don't know why they at our house.

And we gotta raise our husbands too.

We gotta raise the husband too.

And it's a difficult thing to be a woman.

We gotta remain competitive on our jobs, we gotta hold down our positions, and some of us have to do our boss's job too.

It's hard being a woman.

Keeping up with the latest trends, we have to look beautiful every time we come out of the house.

We have to do all of this in six inch heels without looking like we're walking like a baby lamb.

It's hard being a woman.

It's a hard job.

Sometimes we gotta pump our own gas, gotta change our own oil, gotta check our own tires and still leave the house looking like Beyonce.

It's hard.

Find your sister, say, girl, it's hard.

It's hard, girl.

It's hard.

It's hard.

Can't gain too much weight, can't lose too much weight, can't be too happy because they'll call us a silly woman, can't be too serious because they'll call us the angry woman.

It's hard being a woman.

I've been doing this 44 years, and I understand that it's not easy.

And if people only understood the weight of what it takes to be a woman.

So here's the golden question this afternoon.

Who pushes the pusher?

Who encourages the encourager?

Who lifts the lift, the lifter, who helps the helper?

Where do we go when times get hard?

Well, I believe the answer is sitting right beside you at your table today.

The answer is right beside you because in spaces like these, it is a beautiful thing where we come together to uplift the uplifters simply by saying thank you.

And today that's what we want to do to our honorees.

We want to say thank you.

And I've been preaching a long time.

I've been preaching since the age of 16.

I'm 44 now.

So I've been doing this a long time, and I know what it's like to give your life to a work.

I know what it's like to give everything to what you do and who you do it for.

And when I think of these women, I can't help as a preacher but to think about Mary, the mother of our Savior Jesus.

I can't help to think about her because Luke chapter one, uh, verse 28 talks about a conversation that Mary had when it angel with with an angel when the world was hopeless, the world was lifeless, the world was broken, defeated, and in distress.

And here comes Mary.

Mary, she was a marginalized woman.

She was a woman, really, if we be honest from the ghetto.

Nobody knew about Mary.

She was overlooked, she was inexperienced, she was undervalued.

This was Joe's booth from the street shawl, and God chose Mary.

No fame, no name, no wealth.

She was just an average girl with extensions in her hair, bamboo earrings.

Okay, I'm in the right.

I'm in the right.

Okay, I'm in the right room.

I'm in the right room.

But God still chose Mary.

And he had a conversation with her in verse 28 of chapter one in Luke, and he said, uh, rejoice, highly favored one.

And he said, uh, rejoice, highly favored one.

The Lord is with you.

Blessed are you among women?

He chose Mary.

That's a bad woman.

And just when she said to him, How can this be?

How can I have a baby?

Even at my young age and my inexperienced state, how can this be?

The angel drops this line on her, and I want to give it especially to our inductees today and to everyone in the room.

Verse 37, check it when you get home.

It says, For with God, nothing shall be impossible.

Oh my God, that's an amazing line.

It's a short statement, but it's packed with power and hope.

It's packed with a resilience that lets you know that no matter what you're going through, nothing is impossible.

Isn't it amazing that Mary carried the solution to the entire world's troubles?

I believe that you are Mary, my sisters.

You are Mary.

Could it be that you are the solution to the mental health crisis?

Could it be that you are the solution to the educational inequity in our world?

Could it be that you are the solution to poverty?

I want you to say it and say it with your chest.

Say, I am the solution.

I'm the solution to voter suppression, to the digital divide, to the food deserts in my community.

I am the solution.

And I looked at these amazing women that are before us today, and I couldn't help, but when I thought about Mary, I had to think about Julia.

Because Julia, yes, ma'am, you are not just playing an estate sister.

You preserve legacies, you protect people's peace of mind.

And we thank you today.

Would y'all say thank you to Julia real quick?

Yeah, then I had to think about our mayor this afternoon, my fellow Jersey sister, 12 years as our fearless mayor, but your work is so impressive.

But the thing that impresses me most about you is not just your work, but how you pause for a moment to take care and raise your beautiful daughter, Catherine.

That's where the real impressive work goes.

Would y'all tell our mayor thank you for the work?

That's what real womanhood is all about.

It's all about knowing what matters in the moment.

And Dr.

Rachel, my fellow Spartan sister who uh ministered to women when they are in a dark place.

You are a trail blazer, girl.

You are of the 4.4% of black women who have earned doctoral degrees.

You are bad girl.

You're a bad girl, you're a bad girl.

And when women found themselves with dreams that were drained because of life, I believe that your vision, your songs, your counsel, your coaching, your ministry, your life, pick them up from a dark place and remind them that they can do anything.

You are a bad girl.

And we thank you.

Would you tell Dr.

Rachel's thank you?

Then I thought about Star Leandra.

Oh my God.

You are amazing.

And the message in your book, when you told women that they will smile again, when I read that, it came from a deep place within you.

And I can only imagine the valleys, the hills, and the rough terrain that you had to push your way through to tell somebody else you can smile again.

I can only imagine how you've had to live your life in order to tell us that we need to vibrate a little bit higher.

I can only imagine, my sister, what it took for you to be that example, to be what you needed growing up.

I am so thankful that I can look at you and see how to raise my twin sons, Judah and Jordan, while you're raising your son Pierre.

But what I love most about you is that you are the shining reflection of your beautiful 96-year-old grandmother Helen.

Girl, you are bad somebody.

Would y'all tell her thank you, thank you, thank you?

Y'all are some amazing women.

And I thought about it.

I thought about all the work that you have put in to do what you do.

And I'm I'm working on my divinity degree.

And I, you know, I was talking to uh one of my uh professors, and she she's a scholar professor.

Her name is Dr.

Patricia Gould Champ, and she shared something with me that I want to share with you as I close.

She was talking about all of the things that she's done in her life.

This woman is in her 80s, but in her lifetime, she made history in the area of theology.

She founded churches, she led social justice movements, she blazed trails as she went along.

She wouldn't let anything stop her.

She wouldn't let the fact that she was a woman stop her from doing what was in her heart to do.

And in a moment where I had time to just sit still and talk to her for a minute.

I had one question for her, and that question was simple.

How did you do it?

How did you affect so much change in the world today?

And her answer is simple, and it's the answer I'm going to give to you before I take my seat.

She said, Leah, here's how I did it.

Before I tried to change the world, I changed my zip code.

And can I tell you this morning this afternoon that before you try to change the world, all you gotta do is change your zip code.

Would you take a minute?

I'm not gonna come to your house, but just call out your zip code today.

Call out your zip code.

Yeah, call out your zip code.

Yeah, yeah.

That's the space you are called to change first.

And I thank you, sisters, for being bold enough to change your zip code.

I thank you for staying up late to change your zip code.

I thank you for crying tears on a pillow that nobody saw to change your zip code.

I thank you for loving people who put daggers in your back but smiled in your face to change a zip code.

I thank you.

I thank you for the work you've done to change the zip code.

And I do believe that because you were bold enough to change your zip code that you are about to change the world.

If you believe it, would you clap your hands?

And thank God for the opportunity to change the world.

Here's how we're working to make your dollar be of the most benefit to you and everyone in Greensboro.

For every dollar you spend on water services, a percentage is used to support the massive operations that is water resources.

This includes water supply, storm water, water reclamation, construction and repair, and payment of loans.

For every dollar we receive, 30% goes to water supply operations.

This invaluable system is made up of water treatment plants at Lake Brandt and Lake Townsend that treat lake water to make it safe for all the things we need it for.

Certified water treatment operators, maintenance specialists, and lab specialists accomplish this by working around the clock, performing more than 490, 772 water quality tests annually to ensure that the water delivered to you continues to be of the highest quality.

The system also includes 1,500 or more miles of new and existing water pipe and pumping stations to deliver the treated water to every home, school, and business in our city.

These pipes and stations need to be maintained to avoid interruption in service, protect the quality of the water, and to meet any and all environmental protection agency regulations to water quality.

With your continued support, we are also rehabilitating or replacing pipes that have been in operation for many years.

Twenty-nine percent of every dollar is used for water reclamation.

These are the systems that collect, transport, and treat all the used water before releasing it back into the environment.

The City of Greensboro's TZ Osborne Water Reclamation Facility and Laboratory is committed to producing quality data.

The results reported from this laboratory help ensure environmental protection and provide cost recovery for the entire wastewater treatment system.

The laboratory maintains state of North Carolina certification through compliance with all certification requirements.

This laboratory performs various environmental analysis on wastewater samples throughout the treatment process, creek samples, and industrial discharges from multiple users of the City of Greensboro's wastewater system.

Six percent goes to stormwater systems.

Greensboro's stormwater management program is committed to the preservation and enhancement of residents' quality of life through water quality improvement, drainage infrastructure management, maintenance and repair, flood hazard minimization and public awareness.

The existing systems are maintained to ensure effective stormwater management and engineering of new systems, provide for more efficient and effective processes as our city continues to grow.

18% of each dollar is dedicated to repayment of loans.

This is used for the equipment systems and treatment facilities used in water supply and water reclamation.

These systems require significant investments for upgrade and repair and sometimes often require large capital investments to complete.

Additionally, as our city grows, these systems must expand, which means new construction is also needed.

Not only to increase the size of the system, but to upgrade their operations, making them more efficient, safe, and effective.

New construction will also be needed to take advantage of new technology that will be paramount to improving our system.

Managing our water resources is such a vital and important need for everyone in our city.

While we have a lot of resources dedicate our work to our water system, we're also customers and users of this vital resource.

We know how important your contribution is to this partnership.

And with your continued support, we are working hard to maintain, improve, and expand our water resources system in ways that will provide safe and reliable services to you and your families, to our neighboring cities, and to our environment for generations to come.

I am the granddaughter of a veteran as well as the daughter of a veteran.

So the service that was provided to the men and women of the United States of America and what they have done means a lot to me as well as to everyone else.

Giving back to our veterans at any given time during the year is so important for everything they've done for our country, for our communities at any given time for all the things.

Well, basically when you're there, you realize one thing that you gotta take care of one another.

Everybody bleeds red, you know what I mean?

And even though there were indifferences during that time, but you learnt uh to be brothers in war.

Um I'm here at the Veterans Day Parade.

It's my first time volunteering here, and I'm loving all the camaraderie that I'm seeing between everyone.

I've met a lot of uh military personnel actually plan a commission out of North Carolina State University and the Army ROT program.

So seeing all the lovely faces out here and getting some background information on what it takes to be an officer in the United States Army, it really means a lot to me.

I really wanted to give back to those who are third before meeting.

Y'all out here every year in force.

Why is it so important for you to be out here?

Important for us to be out here because we want the community to understand we support our veterans.

Without our veterans, we wouldn't even exist.

We have we need them, they've done things, great things in the past, present, and in the future.

So we need to do the American Legion likes to do buddy checks, and we ask the it we ask the community to do the same thing.

If you know a veteran, check on them.

Especially our older veterans and our even our younger veterans.

If they're a veteran, check on them because holidays can be a very tough time for a veteran.

I just putting it together, getting in touch with all the veterans group, seeing some of our older veterans come out and be recognized, especially our Vietnam veterans.

They didn't get this welcome when they came back from Vietnam, and that's when I served during that time.

With flavors like cumin, sweet potato, hibiscus, these are not your typical frozen dessert flavors you'll find in every supermarket, but you will find them here.

The idea was born thousands of miles away, but the product is made right here in Greensboro.

Alright, Chef Net, where did the idea for Elica treats come from?

It's from this desire to tell my story and build a community and create a community around me.

Culinary really is not really my strength.

I think that's more because of my background.

Um having a mom who's an amazing cook.

So I grew up having everything that's really flavorful.

And also my dad was a foodie even before foodie was a thing.

Predominantly my flavors are Middle Eastern and Indian inspired flavors.

I do have a very diverse multi culture taste palette myself that I have some incorporation of you flavors that's representation of communities that I connect with or I belong to, as in like right now, I'm a North Carolinian, so I have Carolina Peach Sunker, which is a peach based non-dairy flavor.

It has pancake bits in it, and it's me recreating sonker from Suri County.

The flavors are all cardamom infused.

That's what Elika means.

Elika is cardamom in my mother tongue, uh, which is Malayalam.

This is a language uh spoken in Kerala.

That's the my my parents' home state in India.

This is where I store all our ingredients because we actually try to source fresh produce from local sources itself, local suppliers, so hence our farmers.

So I purchase them when they're in season and you know stock them as much as possible.

You have to be really creative with how much we package into a complete finished packaging and how much we actually store it for later.

Because there's also as a wholesale business, you have to be prepared for you know recurring orders, and uh the only way to do that is to have something in stock rather than producing when you get the order, which is really highly coexpensive when you are a consumer package good business.

I mean, we don't have a designated kitchen space where we have access to it any time and every time as we please.

I mean, that this is very easy access, but still, you know, we're renting it by the hour, so they would you have to factor those things in.

These are our three ounce cups.

So Sulemani Sorbe, which is black tea with cardamom and lemon.

It's literally a drink, it's a piping hot tea that we serve typically after a huge meal, and it's very prominent in the Muslim community itself, regardless which part of the Muslim community around the world.

It's a Muslim culture to have black tea after a human big beast to serve that to your guest.

And so, you know, I just I executed that tea as a sorbet.

So this pizza started my journey here, really, and this is where we store now all of our three-ounce cups and some of our gift packaging.

I did uh launch Greensboro, that's an accelerator program by the chamber here in Greensboro, and at the end of the program uh they granted me this freezer upon my request, you know, to assist me with my uh distribution.

I do love actually the fact that this business really challenges me in so many different ways that it's always continuous problem solving, which I've always been good at, and that's something that actually keeps me interested.

So kulfi is our best seller that's considered traditional Indian ice cream.

That's actually milk-based with saffron, cardamom, and pistachio.

And kulfi is literally the emperor of frozen desserts.

Hands down.

Like, so that's the only flavor that I did not create, but all the other flavors that we have are all my own creations.

It's worth experiencing because traditional method of making ice cream is not really how I really execute my flavor.

So when I say I have plantain ice cream, I mean plantain is literally the base of the ice flavor.

It's not me just adding chunks of plantain or flavor of plantain.

You can find the sweet treats at local restaurants and some specialty stores, also online at elicatreats.com.

On behalf of the Greensboro Police Department, I would like to welcome you to the graduation of the our one hundred and eighteenth police academy.

I ask that each of you rise as the recruits from the one hundred and eighteenth police academy enter the auditorium, led by the Greensboro Police Department Training Division staff.

It is the protocol of the Greensboro Police Department that members of our agency place their right hand over their heart at the order present arms.

And we would be honored if you would join us in doing the same.

What's so proudly we held at the twilight's last gleaming?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perils fight, or the ramparts we've watched were so gallantly streaming.

And the rockets recollect the bombs bursting air cave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

Oh say does that starled yet or the land of the free and the home of her.

Thank you, Mrs.

Lowe.

I will ask that police chaplain, Minister Cedric Parker, come and offer the invitation.

Let us bow our heads in prayer.

Gracious and almighty God, we pause in gratitude on this special day, a day of honor, achievement, and new beginnings.

We thank you for each graduate represented here for their courage, their perseverance, and their commitment to serve our community with integrity and compassion.

Lord, we ask for your covering and protection over them as they step into their calling to uphold justice and preserve peace.

May their hearts remain steadfast, their judgment sound, and their actions guided by wisdom and fairness.

Bless their families and loved ones who have supported them along this journey, those who have prayed, waited, and sacrificed.

May they feel your pride and presence in this moment as well.

God, we ask that you continue to strengthen our community with unity, understanding, and respect.

Let the ceremony remind us that the true that true service is rooted in love and humility.

We give you thanks for the Greensboro Police Department and for all those who serve.

Grant them safety in every shift, peace in every challenge, and joy in the fulfillment of their duty.

We offer this prayer in your holy name.

Amen.

Please be seated.

Now I will like to call forward Greensboro Police Chief John Thompson to offer his remarks and welcome our special guest.

Good afternoon.

Who said that?

All right.

This is always a challenge when we have to come up here because I can see nothing but light right now, Maiz.

And so I apologize if it looks like I'm squinting.

I'm I'm used to looking up and actually seeing people's faces, and I can't see anybody out there.

So I want to take a moment to thank some of our elected officials that have joined us today to show their support for the Academy class in the Greensboro Police Department.

We have with us Mayor Nancy Vaughan.

We have Mayor Pro Tem Mary Kay Abusader.

We have Councilwoman Therm and Councilwoman Pinder.

And I can't see if there's anybody else that came in.

All right, that looks like it's it.

So also like to take the opportunity to thank uh city leadership that's here in attendance today, and any other elected officials that are joining us.

I'd like to take the opportunity to thank our law enforcement partners, other organizations that are here to support the Greensboro Police Department.

Thank you to those from the community that have taken the time to come here and show support for our organization.

And finally, I'd like to express my deepest gratitude to every single police officer and member of our professional staff, all of whom have chosen to dedicate their time and talent to serving this great city.

I'd like to take a moment to really speak to two groups here today.

First, the family friends here to support the members of the 118th Police Academy.

And then second, the speak directly to the members of the 118th Police Academy.

So to the family and friends and supporters, I ask for you to thank and remember three things patience, support, and pride.

Patience due to the long nights, the missed holidays, the tough calls, and all the difficulties and challenges that come with this noble profession.

Support for the soon-to-be officers here on the stage as they come into one of the most trying professions where support can be lacking.

Recognition for the amazing work can oftentimes be minimalized.

Lastly, pride, not just pride for the members on this stage, but be proud of your role and their success and recognize that their achievements and successes are your achievements and successes.

To the graduating class, you are becoming a member of a premier law enforcement agency.

During a very exciting time.

Hopefully, they will guide you as you move forward in your career.

Compassion, service, hard work, and humility.

All things we do, we do with compassion.

As the police motto directs, we protect and serve.

Always remember to serve.

Hard work as a principal, I have tried to live by every day.

There's a quote from Gandhi, one of my favorite quotes.

Uh, and he says that satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment.

Full effort is full victory.

Lastly, do your work with humility.

I'm sure most of you, like the officers who came before you chose the profession for service to others and not recognition.

But please always remember to keep a humble heart.

I am fortunate that I have hired a social media manager that keeps me humble daily.

But find whatever in your life you need to make sure you keep yourselves humble every day that you come in to do your job.

In closing, thank you, family and friends for your support for the recruits here on the stage and members of the class 118.

Thank you for choosing a career of service.

It is through your support that these 25 recruits have made it through this academy, and we thank you.

Now, please allow me to take a moment to introduce our training division staff.

These individuals have been dedicated and they have committed themselves to our success as an organization through the development, education, and training of this personnel.

This staff works tirelessly on numerous projects and programs while providing unwavering support to these recruits as well as our sworn officers and our professional staff.

They are truly a team of professionals with whom I am proud to be associated.

Lieutenant Candy Vaughan, Sergeant Chris Wingfield, Corporal Chandler Miller, Rangemaster Officer Dan Harris, lead CCT instructor and taser instructor, Tim Jordan, lead driving instructor, Nick Ingram, and Michelle Hebbert, who is actually an employee of the fire department, but she helps us through every day and through this program and many other things that we have to do.

Please join me in giving these individuals a well-deserved round of applause.

I would also like to thank members of the Greensboro Fire Department who are in attendance today.

We share the training facilities with them, and we are grateful for their support and camaraderie.

Historically, the Greensboro Police Department presents several very special awards during the Academy graduation.

Today we honor members of the 118th Police Academy who have distinguished themselves.

I call upon our police academy school director, Sergeant Chris Wingfield, and the training division staff to present the special awards.

All right.

The first award we're going to give out is for the highest academic achievement award, right?

During the course of the academy, the students are given 40 topical areas of instruction, ranging from constitutional law to driver's training to mental health awareness.

Each student must pass each of these blocks of instruction while also preparing for the comprehensive state exam at the end of the course.

The amount of studying required is demanding, both physically and mentally, as more materials presented over the course of delivery.

During each class, we have one student who separates themselves academically by achieving the highest overall average during the academy.

For the 118th Academy, the student finished with an overall average of 92.99%.

The training staff is pleased to present the award of the highest academic average to recruit picketting.

The next award is the Captain Dan Moore Memorial Physical Fitness Award.

Each student is required to pass a physical fitness standard set by the state of North Carolina.

For the 118th Academy, I'm proud to present the Captain Dan Moore Memorial Physical Award or Physical Fitness Award to recruit Irkson.

The Firearms Award.

The SCAT Award, which is an acronym for subject control arrest techniques, is the course that incorporates what you may know as defensive tactics.

Each student's given instructions in handcuffing techniques, subject control, and officer safety.

The department's SCAT instructor chose a student who not only demonstrates proficiency in the classroom and mat room, but also prefer uh personifies those immeasurable components of heart and drive.

For the 118th Police Academy, the uh recipient of this SCAT award is presumed uh presented, excuse me, to recruit Irkson.

The next award is the instructor award.

The delivery of the police academy is an opportunity for each of our new employees to be given a block of instruction while also becoming part of the city of Greensboro and their new family at the police department.

The 118th Police Academy consisted of roughly 1,000 hours of instruction that is provided by uh our assigned training staff and many instructors throughout the department.

Each instructor brings something to the class that they are assigned and that they are an integral part of one of the best instructional academies in the Southeast.

Even with all that, we have instructors to step forward and demonstrate a commitment to both the department and the academy.

For the 118th Academy, one instructor was chosen above the other instructors for their level of dedication in providing excellent instructions, quality work, and meeting the rigorous demands placed by both the state of North Carolina and the training staff.

This instructor received excellent reviews by the students and was the lead instructor on a block that many students identified as one of the best that they set through.

It's my pleasure to present the instructor award for the 118th Police Academy to Detective Gregory Lehman.

Michael was a member of the 50th PBIC, which was the police basic introductory course that we now call the police academy.

And since Michael had not yet turned 21 at the time of his class graduation, he had to wait until February 16th, 1978 to be sworn as a Greensboro Police Officer.

As a continuing memorial to Michael and his brief but impactful career, his family supports the Michael G.

Winslow Memorial Award, which distinguishes overall excellence and professionalism exhibited by one member of each graduating class.

The Michael G.

Winslow Memorial Award is the highest honor an Academy graduate can receive.

This award is presented on the basis of the selection by his class members themselves and serves as a lasting testimony that it that it's the recipients was found to be possess those personal values, attitudes, and abilities, which are characteristic of a true police professional.

Presenting the Michael G.

Winslow Award is Sergeant Eric Early.

Sergeant Eric Early received this award as a member of the 81st Police Academy.

It is my honor and privilege to announce the recipient of the 118th Police Academy, Michael G.

Winslow Award winner.

Recruit Marlowe Wood.

Now, as is customary at our graduation, a student is selected to represent them.

At this time, I call forward recruit peppers to deliver the class address.

Good morning to Chief Thompson, command staff, honored guests, community members, friends, family, and of course, my fellow members of the 118th.

Thank you all for joining us today to share this moment that so many have worked so hard to make happen.

And to my fellow classmates, thank you for allowing me this opportunity to speak.

It is a great honor to stand before you, and I only hope that I can do justice to the dedication that you have shown to become a graduate of the Greensboro Police Academy.

Today marks the end of our time as cadets and the beginning of our careers as Greensboro Police officers.

To my classmates, congratulations.

You dedicated yourself over the last half a year, sacrificing your time, comfort, and egos for just the chance to see yourself walk across the stage.

We have earned this opportunity, and I look forward to celebrating our achievements with you all over the next week.

However, I would also be remiss if I suggested we made it here alone.

To the friends, family, loved ones, and children of all the 118th, know that everyone in this class is aware of the sacrifices that you have made.

You were patient with us through hundreds of hours we spent at school or studying the night away.

You listened to our concerns, gripes, and fears without complaint.

You treated blisters, bruises, busted lips, and irritated bright red eyes with a smile.

You were patient in there for us, and we could not have asked for any more.

Now we promise that we will be there for you in ways we haven't been able to in the last six months.

A paramilitary-style training environment was a brand new experience, something that Corporal Miller and Sergeant Wingfield were probably painfully aware of the first time they watched us attempt to march.

And half of us ran into each other while we were all supposed to turn right.

Despite these challenges, the training staff here at GPD molded us into the best possible officers we could be, and all of the graduates of the 118th saw the time the training staff dedicated to ensuring we were prepared for a career we chose.

You missed just as many weekends, holidays, and birthdays as we did.

You did the same physical training that you asked of us.

And one of you lost a knee attempting to teach a rather large cadet how to escape from out.

Sorry, Officer Jordan.

I promise I won't put anyone else on light duty while I work here.

To all those that took the time to train us, allow me to extend a hearty thank you.

From a first day at the academy, a single question was posed to every member of the 118th on a near-daily basis.

Almost every instructor of each block asked us this question to begin class.

Sometimes it was a direct interrogation, another time it was hidden behind subtle warning.

The majority of the time, however, it went unspoken.

The only hint that it was there, the bright gleam of a bell we could ring to quit the academy as we sweat through PT or face the wrong end of a squealing taser tin.

The question was a simple one.

Why become a police officer?

Why suffer through PT?

Why get tased, gassed, and pepper sprayed?

Why fight a six foot-six, 280-pound ex-college football player after doing enough burpees and squats to make the nearest trash can your closest friend?

Why choose this career?

A career that might ask you to risk your life for strangers that you'll never know.

When I was asked this question, I always gave some half-correct answer.

It was a dream of mine.

I wanted to help people.

I wanted to drive really fast with blue lights and sirens.

But deep down I always knew these answers weren't quite right.

There was something else just underneath the surface, something I couldn't bring myself to say, or couldn't find the words to explain how I felt.

A brief bit of confusion.

They felt the right answer, same as me, but we could never put it in the right words.

Yet one day I found my nose in a book, this particular book being the Bible.

I don't know why I was reading it that day.

Maybe I was bored, or maybe I was looking for inspiration.

Maybe I was simply praying I could finish my third five-mile run after experiencing the absolute joy of Corporal Miller's, I want to see someone ring the bell and set a record pace.

Whatever the reason, I had thumbed to the book of Isaiah, where a particular passage caught my eye.

Isaiah 68 states, also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send?

And whom will go for us?

Then I said, Here am I, send me.

Here I felt something, something familiar.

A man is asked who the Lord should send to serve his cause, a service that might make him suffer, that might make others hate him, that might bring risk to life and limb.

And yet Isaiah responded to the Lord without even knowing the full extent of what God asked of him.

He did so unreservedly, willingly, righteously, seeking to serve for no other reason but for the pure holiness of God as he had witnessed in all his glory, and because he was the one there in that moment who could answer God's call.

Reading this passage made me realize a simple truth.

The question, why become a police officer, and whom shall I send are one and the same.

The question is nothing more than a call to serve.

Those who answer this call do so willingly, unreservedly, and righteously.

And I believe that the reason every graduate of the 118th answered such a call is simple.

Because if not us, then who?

We, the 118th, are here, and we want to serve our community, our city, our state, our nation, and to protect the streets we call home.

Today we will walk out of the ceremony with an everlasting symbol of the call to serve pinned on our uniform.

The badge of a Greensboro police officer represents all we have worked to achieve over the last 28 weeks, and we should wear it with pride.

Yet the same badge also represents something beyond our past and present accomplishments.

More than even the oath that we will swear today.

When you look at yourself in the mirror and see that shiny brass shield, know that you have committed yourself to a lifetime of service, not just a moment.

Such a life demands nothing short of excellence, and excellence requires the fortitude to always answer me when we are faced with the question, who shall we send?

Up to this moment, the 118th has answered that question with unwavering dedication, a dedication that developed into a brotherhood we all now share.

Look no further for proof of this brotherhood than the long nights spent studying new material produced by the state.

We were told to just read the book and read, we did.

Hundreds, thousands of hours spent with our noses glued to computer screens and typing out passages.

And while some of us may have read more than others, as evidenced by the sudden scarcity of Corporal Miller's push pens to track our retakes, more than one student took the time to become an impromptu tutor when their fellow cadets needed assistance to pass an upcoming exam.

One cadet in particular took this challenge of mentoring us to heart, staying after class to lead study sessions, typing out hundreds of pages worth of notes, and encouraging us to bury ourselves in our studies.

And while he might not be on the stage with us right now due to an unfortunate injury, I know that not a single member of the 118th would disagree with me that he still stands at the heart of our brotherhood.

I am confident that without you, there would not be 25 people standing on the stage.

Tate, I know you're watching right now, and I want you to know that we will all be waiting for you in the 120th, brother.

Further proof of our brotherhood of service was forged in the many hours spent with Corporal Miller improving our physical training.

There, cadets did not ask but demanded for the man beside him to push through all adversity.

For some of us, that PT was very, very adverse.

And while we may not all have escaped from misplaced bottle caps, surprise doctors' appointments that just so happened to overlap with scheduled runs, and a hundred and three degree fevers that turned a brief jog into a snot-filled nightmare.

Everyone on the stage today pushed through an intense program to become the best we could be.

Many recruits put in additional hours.

Cadets Marlo Wood, Spencer Wood, and Tyler Irkson have dedicated extra time out of their days, often arriving at the training center at 4 a.m.

or staying several hours after dismissal to work with those of us who knew we needed the extra conditioning, and work we did.

Leaving our egos and pride at the door, we accepted the stark truth that we would never be fit enough for this job.

When lives are on the line, one simply cannot risk that they may be physically incapable of performing in the line on duty.

And finally, I saw evidence of our brotherhood of service in the fight we showed when the only possible outcome of training was personal suffering.

When our faces were painted bright orange with a can of pepper spray, no carets, no cadets rendered to the searing heat in our eyes or the scorching heat on our skin.

We fought through, staying in the fight, our focus on the singular mission to serve.

We faced the taser with a smile, until the probes hit at least, when there was more than a few screams.

Still, we all hoped hopped back up, some of us hopping mad, others laughing and sore.

We gassed ourselves to the point of sickness and then responded to practicals where we fought men larger and more experienced than us.

And some on the stage before you faced a great loss in their personal lives during this academy.

Facing situations that would have made a lesser man quit.

These recruits show the heart to answer the call no matter the circumstance, serving as both a pillar of support for their heartbroken families and still showing up to class every day, willing themselves through what may have been the hardest time in their lives.

To those of you on this stage that showed such heart, know that the rest of the 118th saw your sacrifice, and that we will always have your back.

To conclude, allow me to leave you with this.

A wise man in the Greensboro Police Department once said, Don't quit, never quit.

So move.

Now I would like a motion to adjourn open session.

So move.

And do I have a second?

Second by Miss Crawford for a motion by Mr.

Holston.

All in favor, please say aye.