LEONARDTOWN, Md. (Dec. 08, 2009) - Mrs. Mary M. Washington, Board of Education of St. Mary's County member, was recently named "Outstanding Citizen of the Year - St. Mary's County" by the Tau Lambda Lambda Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.
The fraternity recognized Mrs. Washington for her outstanding contributions to St. Mary's County and for her stellar history of service.
In 1996, Mrs. Washington was elected to the Board of Education, and was re-elected in 2000, 2004, and 2008. She made history by being the first African American woman in St. Mary's County to win an elected office in a General Election, being named chairman of the first elected Board of Education (Board members were previously appointed by the Governor of Maryland), being the first Board of Education member to seek re-election and run unopposed, and being the first elected Board of Education member to serve successive terms.
Omega Psi Phi was the first Black fraternal organization founded at a Black university or college - founded November 17, 1911, at Howard University in Washington, DC. The fraternity was founded on building strong and effective men "dedicated to the principles of manhood, scholarship, perseverance, uplift, and capable of giving expression to the hopes and aspirations of an unfree people in the land of the free."
Source: St. Mary's County Public Schools