Students and administrators from Church Farm School, the private boarding and day school for high school boys in Exton, recently traveled to Washington, D.C., to visit Congressman and legendary civil rights leader John Lewis, the Representative of Georgia’s Fifth District.

Lewis and his wife Lillian served as mentors to Church Farm School’s first African-American graduate, Benjamin Hickman Wright Jr. (Class of 1967), when the latter was a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta and active in civil rights.

During the visit, Lewis shared his remembrances of Wright, who died tragically in 1970, and talked about his activism in the 1960s, particularly at the march at Selma with Martin Luther King Jr.

“It inspired me to get in the way, and get into good, necessary trouble,” Lewis said about the Civil Rights Movement.

Lewis offered advice to the young men gathered to meet him to “be brave, be bold, and do your very best.” He also reminded them to vote, as it is the “most powerful nonviolent tool in our democratic society.”

Representatives from the Church Farm School who visited Lewis include:

• The Reverend Edmund K. Sherrill, Head of School
• Christopher Seeley, Assistant Head of School/Director of Academics
• Tiffany Scott, Director of College Guidance
• Peter Corrado, Director of Development
• Rev. Canon Preston Belfield Hannibal, Board Member
• Seven students, three of whom hail from Atlanta

“We are so grateful to Congressman Lewis for his graciousness to our student, Ben Wright, almost 50 years ago, and to our students who visited him this week, who were in awe of his extraordinary life and accomplishments,” said Sherrill.

Photos and videos from the school’s visit can be found online by clicking here.