By SPEAKIN’ OUT NEWS
Rolling Hills Elementary School educators received recognition this National Teacher Appreciation Week as Alabama A&M University graduates transformed their professional network into a community service initiative. The May 6 luncheon continues a tradition where AAMU’s Huntsville Progressive Alumni Chapter invests in local public education through direct engagement with teaching professionals.
Under Allen Malone’s chapter leadership, the alumni group has cultivated relationships with Rolling Hills Elementary over multiple years. Principal LaKeisha Agun, herself an AAMU graduate with two decades of experience in Huntsville City Schools, benefits from a faculty composition that includes several fellow university alumni, strengthening institutional connections between the historically Black university and the elementary school community.
Nine alumni and associate members prepared and delivered a complete meal service featuring lasagna, chicken breasts, vegetables, salad, and desserts. Participants represented Huntsville’s diverse professional sectors, including real estate, aerospace, military contracting, and public administration.
Real estate professional Khrista Dees brought her expertise as a Licensed Associate Broker and instructor with Norluxe Realty to the service team. Fellow volunteers included engineering technology alumnus Marvin Williams from the class of 1998, retired NASA employee Ann Erskine from Clanton, former Redstone Arsenal program manager Ronnie Hawkins of Talladega, and Brenda Gurley, a 1977 accounting graduate who achieved historic recognition as the Anniston Army Depot’s first Black female human resources officer with the Department of the Army.
The service roster also featured Mary Elizabeth Smith, whose career at U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command’s Redstone Arsenal operations included budget analysis responsibilities; Birmingham native Linda D. Fowlkes, retired from U.S. Army Contracting Command; 1984 graduate Ike “Sonny” Rooks III, who serves as a principal mentor; and Gregory Hicks, a 1987 political science alumnus now serving as a principal.