Ball chairman has 55 'daughters'

The Rev. Ken Martin is chairman of the 66th annual Debutante Scholarship Ball, scheduled for Saturday and presented by the Central Arkansas Sphinx Foundation and the Pi Lambda chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.
The Rev. Ken Martin is chairman of the 66th annual Debutante Scholarship Ball, scheduled for Saturday and presented by the Central Arkansas Sphinx Foundation and the Pi Lambda chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

A church pastor is often seen as the shepherd of a flock, namely a congregation.

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The type of debutante that will be presented at Saturday’s 66th annual Debutante Scholarship Ball does not fall into that historic stereotype of the well-to-do society girl, says the Rev. Ken Martin, event chairman. “This is a young lady who … works very hard at academics, she’s involved in community service … [It] has nothing to do with name or what side of the track you were born on.”

But the Rev. Ken Martin, pastor of Greater Archview Baptist Church, is shepherding another flock: the 55 young women who will be presented Saturday at the 66th annual Debutante Scholarship Ball in the Wally Allen Ballroom of Little Rock's Statehouse Convention Center.

The event is presented by the Central Arkansas Sphinx Foundation and the Pi Lambda chapter of the historically black Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. Proceeds from this fundraiser are used for scholarships.

Serving as chairman of this ball for the third consecutive year isn't as much a stretch as one might think for Martin, a married father of two adult sons.

"It's been fun being involved in this capacity," he says. "Since I have boys I get to say 'Last year I adopted 34 daughters for a period of time. This year I guess I've got 55 daughters."

Martin's involvement came organically. He pledged Alpha Phi Alpha in spring 1980 at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. The De Queen native, who grew up in Lawrence, Kan., has been active with the Pi Lambda alumni chapter since 2007. He's served on the board of the Sphinx Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the fraternity, and he's also worked on several other committees, including the annual Martin Luther King Scholarship Breakfast.

He remembers first attending the ball after moving back to Arkansas in 1987 as a guest of his friend and fraternity brother, Ardren Jones. "As I would attend [the ball] and then finally I got active with the chapter, I saw that [it] was something that I would be interested in working [with]," he says. Eventually, he was asked to be ball chairman.

In 2014, Martin's first stint as chairman, there were 23 debutantes; the next year, 34. He attributes the increase in girls -- as well as attendees -- partly to a change in the debutante eligibility status. For years, all debutantes were college freshmen who'd graduated from Little Rock-area high schools.

MONETARY AWARDS

The 2014 ball was the first in which high school seniors were presented along with college students. Since then, all debutantes have been high school seniors.

Martin also attributes the ball's growth to the scholarships that are awarded. Although the amounts of each scholarship won't be revealed until that evening, a total of $15,000 in scholarships will be awarded Saturday. These scholarships go to the debutante crowned Miss Pi Lambda; first and second runners-up; the debutante voted Miss Congeniality by her peers; and the debutante who sells the most advertisements for the souvenir booklet. In addition, any girl who sells more than $700 in souvenir-book advertisements will be awarded a percentage of what she sells over that amount.

During the months leading up to the ball, the debutantes attend workshops. When they were college freshmen, Martin explains, "we were unable to do as many workshops" for obvious reasons -- activities were confined to the length of the girls' Christmas break. Workshops now begin in September and cover social media, fashion, goal-setting and public speaking -- "which we think is very important," Martin says.

In addition, the girls have participated in Race for the Cure. Last year, working with Quilting for Kids, they handed out quilts during the Christmas Caravan, the annual giveaway for homeless and low-income people in Little Rock and North Little Rock. The girls also made a quilt that bore every debutante's name and was given away in a drawing. At a yearly mother-daughter luncheon, the debutantes practice their public-speaking skills by paying tribute to their mothers or mother figures. "That's usually a teary, emotional time," Martin says.

There were more than 100 girls who applied to be in this year's class of debutantes, but organizers had to keep the class size manageable. "This year we actually have a really good mixture of girls from the various schools" -- not just from Pulaski County, says Martin.

Operating the program is a nine-month commitment. By the end of the 2015-2016 school year, the group started taking applications and publicizing for 2016 debutantes. The application deadline was June 30, then the selection process began. Once the girls were chosen, they were placed in the care of Laura Martin (Martin's wife) and Linda Medley, who've made sure they stayed within guidelines.

THE TRADITION CONTINUES

One would think that in the 21st century -- when the notion of today's woman as independent, empowered, even able to run for president -- the concept of presenting young ladies as debutantes would have gone the way of the dodo bird. But because of "the way that our young ladies are being portrayed" in the media, people see the debutante program as helping to battle negative stereotypes about young people in general, young black women in particular, Martin says. "We have some very sharp ... young ladies that are not video queens."

The overall goal of the debutante program is to help prepare the girls for college, Martin says. Many are honor students and have gone on to such institutions as Princeton and Howard universities as well as the armed forces. "That's kind of funny to me that they're debutantes and they want to be in the military," Martin adds, recalling one 2015 debutante who aspired to be a Marine pilot.

The 66th Debutante Scholarship Ball will begin with the introduction of the girls, who will first dance with their fathers, then with their escorts. The program is open to girls who have not had children or been pregnant, and who will be high school seniors at the time of the ball and the activities leading up to it. For Miss Pi Lambda consideration, girls are scored on their grade-point average, interviews with judges, their presentations at the mother-daughter breakfast and the essays they turned in with their applications.

Each debutante receives a devotional and a gift card from Forever 21. "Every time I go in to buy the gift card, [the sales associates] say, 'I want to be one of your daughters,' because I'm buying all these gift cards,'' Martin says.

The 66th annual Debutante Scholarship Ball is 6:30 p.m. Saturday in the Wally Allen Ballroom of Little Rock's Statehouse Convention Center. Reservations are closed but a waiting list is being compiled. Tickets, if any become available, will be $60. Call Martin at (501) 837-7559 for more information.

High Profile on 12/11/2016

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