A Deeply Personal Connection

Getting involved with the Community Engagement Center (CEC) put Annie Voss ’26 back in touch with her roots in an unexpected way.

Earlier this year, during spring break, Voss and a small group of students—including some classmates involved with CASA Pitzer—went to New Market, Tennessee, for training at the Highlander Research and Education Center, an acclaimed social justice leadership training school. The trip was sponsored by the CEC.

Highlander’s social justice history is associated with major movements and important figures, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. During King’s visit to the center, in fact, he heard the song “We Shall Overcome” for the first time and was inspired by it. Soon it became the anthem of the Civil Rights Movement.

Voss doesn’t just appreciate this history; the center is meaningful to her in a very personal sense. Her grandmother, Mary Anne Flournoy, was involved in the Highlander movement in the 1970s, and Voss’ training at the center unexpectedly made her feel closer to her.

“The CEC team had no idea what they did for me in sending me there,” Voss said. “I feel like my grandmother set in motion a lot of the pieces of who I am and the culture of community engagement that I grew up in. Even though she passed before I got to know her, visiting the center and getting training like she did connected me with her. It was so meaningful; I felt affirmed in what I’m learning and that I’m doing something that would have mattered to her.”