Here at the beginning of the New Year 2025, I think back to the year 1992, when I graduated high school. It was a presidential election year, the Cold War was declared over, and IBM ThinkPad 700 C laptop was created. A lot has changed since then, but the effort to serve and help others remains constant.
Back in January 2019, the town of North Carrollton began our municipal program at Marshall Elementary School. The speech I gave in the gymnasium at Marshall Elementary School included the “thousand points of light” President George H.W. Bush put forward decades ago. I’m reminded is a constant source of encouragement in encouraging our youth. In his concession speech in 1992 he left America with finding ways to help others, and the importance of young people being involved in public service. It always stuck with me the encouragement the forty first president had for the importance of public service.
The phrase "a thousand points of light" was popularized by Bush 41 and later formed the name of a private, non-profit organization launched by Bush to support volunteerism. President Bush continued these efforts of encouraging volunteerism and community service after his defeat in 1992, as a private citizen.
This year North Carrollton will again begin our municipal programs in the schools, which I’m working a program from the National Weather Service to be done here in North Carrollton. Also, the Mississippi Municipal League Scholarship program marks five years that we have been participating.
I thought back about while in 2019 while at Marshall Elementary, during my speech at the program that first year where we presented the certificates. I referred to President Bush 41 with his thousand points of light and the importance of serving others. On that winter day in the gymnasium, I spoke about how looking out on the students, they are our shining example of the future and carrying on the efforts of serving others. I quoted Bush 41 praising America’s volunteer organizations— “a brilliant diversity spread like stars, like a thousand points of light in a broad and peaceful sky.”
Through public service and an awareness of the many ways to help others makes a difference in lives. I’m proud of the efforts North Carrollton has made to encourage our young people to be involved in the community. It needs their determination, it needs their drive, and it needs their bright ideas.
Communities face challenges, and the solution begins with an individual that steps up and says I can help. There are no limits to people determined to make a difference, a life can be changed by that shining light of serving others. That legacy with the continuing effort of encouraging community service with volunteerism and its importance carries on here in North Carrollton and Carroll County.
Ken Strachan serves as the mayor of North Carrollton and is a member of the Mississippi Municipal League board of directors.
