‘Nobody is too cool or feels too awkward to participate’

» Championing a black education pioneer

“The kids at Dominion Academy are a joy to teach,” said Scoggins, a 17-year Broadway professional dancer who owns Ohio Ballroom Studios. “Every time I show them a maneuver in class, the next class they have practiced it and have improved.”

That expertise showed up on the dance floor at the Dominion Academy Senior Ball this past May 19 at the Dayton Woman’s Club. And not just by the students, as parents aren’t relegated to the sidelines as chaperones. Parents have been invited to take part in the festivities since the third year of the ball.

“Woman’s Club had to have a certain number of people to book the venue. We didn’t have enough people, so we invited the parents,” said Sandy McNamara, who co-founded the school in 1998 with her husband, the Rev. Wayne McNamara, when their oldest daughter was an eighth-grader.

One of those parents attending this year was Pamela Baugham, whose third son, Ben, was graduating.

“I just don’t know where else this would happen besides my son’s future wedding. (And that is) Ben asking for my hand to dance the merengue,” said Baugham, a Dayton resident who works as a study hall monitor at the school. “It’s so refreshing seeing these kids … step out of their shells and learn to dance. Nobody is too cool or feels too awkward to participate.”

Baugham, along with other moms and dads, has served on the ball committee during the years they have graduating seniors. The parents organize slide shows of the graduates, gifts are presented and speeches are given by the juniors after a meal at the Woman’s Club before the dance begins.

Dominion Academy is located in the building of Christ the King Anglican Church on North Main Street in Dayton. That church was one of the buildings that became a refuge from rising waters during the Dayton Flood of 1913.

“My favorite thing about the ball is the proper organization of dancing and the etiquette that comes along with it,” said Ben Baugham.

That organization includes the use of signed dance cards. There are 15 dance rotations, and Scoggins acts as a DJ calling each dance.

McNamara said the students really liked the idea that they didn’t have to have a date. Boys loved the fact they wouldn’t face rejection when they asked a girl to dance. There are some line dances and modern songs thrown in, as well.

“A retired biology teacher and his wife were talking about how fun it was in the ’40s to go to the dance halls on a Friday night,” said McNamara. “They used signed dance cards, and we thought that was a cool idea.”

Both she and her husband are Bowling Green State University graduates who majored in education. They homeschooled their oldest children and saw the need for a structured approach to college that still emphasized family life and parental involvement.