In a ceremony on April 24, Booker T. Washington High School and the High School for Engineering Professions will dedicate its auditorium to alumna state Rep. Senfronia Thompson and kick off efforts to create a community “Vision” project.

Thompson, a 25-term state representative and 1957 Washington High School graduate, has long been heralded for her service to her community as a state legislator.

Thompson will be present at the ceremony in her honor, along with State Senator John Whitmire, State Representatives Jarvis Johnson and Harold Dutton, Mayor Sylvester Turner, Houston City Council Member Karla Cisneros, HISD District II Trustee Katherine Blueford-Daniels, and Harris County Justice of the Peace Judge Eric Carter.

Thompson is also being recognized as the first supporter of “The Vision” Community Statue Project, a new effort being launched on Saturday.

The student-led project is raising money for a community plaza on campus, with a statue of Booker T. Washington as its centerpiece. The school’s namesake was a civil rights trailblazer, as well as an educator, author, and adviser to several U.S. presidents.

The statue would be only the third to commemorate an African American in the city of Houston, after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and U.S. Congressman George Thomas “Mickey” Leland. It would be the first statue of an African American in the historically Black neighborhood of  Independence Heights.

The event will also be broadcast online and on-air at HoustonISD.org/livetv and on HISD TV (Xfinity channel 18 or AT&T U-verse Channel 99).