Spartanburg Methodist College welcomed South Carolina District 37 Representative Donna C. Hicks as the featured speaker at the College’s Honor Code signing on Monday, August 17.

The SMC Honor Code Signing is a time honored tradition where the campus pauses to recognize the importance of honor and truthfulness and reflect on what that means to members of the SMC community.

Student Government President, sophomore Shameia Rosier of Greenville, SC, led the reading of the SMC Honor Code, which illustrates the basic expectations regarding social and academic behavior for faculty, staff and students, the importance of truthfulness, academic and personal integrity, intellectual honesty, respect for the educational process; and respect for the individual.   In her remarks regarding the significance of the students signing of the Honor Code, Rep. Hicks referenced Proverbs 21:21 “Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness will find life and honor.”

Rep. Hicks touched on recent events in Charleston and how a poem she read in college regarding the bombing of a church in Birmingham came full circle for her when she learned of the mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church that took the life of her colleague, State Senator Clementa C. Pinckney.

Rep. Hicks recounted the events of those 22 days, 13 hours of political negotiations, and the 10 minutes it took to lower the Confederate flag, and shared how she, and fellow South Carolinians, were directed to stand for what was right.  She challenged the assembly of SMC students, faculty and staff to “do the right thing for the right reason at the right time” and ended her presentation with a question “what will you do with your opportunity?”

Rep. Hicks, who serves on the House Judiciary Committee, is a business owner and resident of Boiling Springs, SC. She is a graduate of the University of South Carolina and holds two degrees from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Rep. Hicks is an active community leader: a graduate of Leadership Spartanburg and Leadership South Carolina; a member of the Board of Directors for Upstate Family Resource Center, the Boiling Springs Lions Club and the Business Association of Boiling Springs; in addition, she is the past President and Regional Director of the Jaycees.