Mount Vernon Adventist Debutante Society-GEMS

A long and honored tradition of many societies is the formal presentation of eligible young ladies to society. The Mount Vernon Adventist Debutante Society helps to instill a positive and memorable impression of Southern style and to encourage the maintenance of our heritage and traditions. This includes a debutante presentation and other related functions in the activities. Each Debutante will be formally presented in a ceremony during the Grand Ball.
In America, and other parts of the world social capital has declined steadily since the 1960’s. Social capital is the glue that holds a community and/or nation together. Whether it is the global workforce, international diplomacy, bullying in schools, places of Faith or social class, the business of manners and protocol are far too often overlooked. Increasingly, people at home and abroad are resorting to aggressive forms of behavior to solve differences and resolve personal conflicts.
The Mount Vernon Adventist Debutante Society seeks to address the root causes of the downturn in social capital in America and other nations through its program thrust: Etiquette classes for young ladies and gentlemen, and a rite of passage Debutante Cotillion program for high school seniors and college students which includes civility training, spiritual guidance, refined social skills and appreciation of the arts.
During African rites of passage, children are taught the necessary skills for adulthood including among other things; problem solving, rules and taboos of the society, social responsibility and what is considered appropriate behavior for women and men. They can also receive further clarification of his or her purpose or life’s mission. Oftentimes, successful completion of the rite of adulthood is publicly celebrated with a "coming out ceremony" or reintroduction to society. Many strong African societies exist today who systematically initiate boys and girls into adulthood to make stronger men and stronger women inside of the communal civilized context.
Cotillions are colonial French-inspired balls. Cotillions and Debutante balls are used interchangeably. The tradition of elite American blacks is being transformed by middle- and working-class African-Americans who are embracing the coming-of-age rite with their own urban twist. Churches and the Black Community embrace the cotillion because of the required character-building workshops and etiquette classes which help drill social skills in their children who they fear are falling prey to negative aspects of hip hop culture. Black churches’ own twist was adding college scholarship fund-raising components and black history classes.