2007 Profiles in Courage
State Del. Jeion A. Joyner Ward
Delegate Jeion Ward is a member of the Virginia General Assembly representing the 92 District of the House of Delegates. As a member of the House of Delegates, she serves on the education, transportation and general laws committees. As a lifelong resident of the Hampton Roads area, Jeion and her family have remained active in the community for over thirty years. Jeion attended Huntington High School until the close of the eleventh grade. She then went on to graduate from the first fully integrated class at Warwick High School in Newport News.
Jeion married her high school sweetheart James Ward. The Wards have three sons: James, Jr., Jason and Jeremy. As her children reached school age, Jeion became more active in her children's elementary, middle and high school development. Her roles have included PTA board member, room mother, band booster and athletics team mom.
Jeion became active in the newly charted Hampton Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 4260 and began working to improve the professional opportunities for teacher assistants. While working full-time as a teacher assistant, Jeion completed the first two years of her degree at Thomas Nelson Community College and then transferred to Christopher Newport University, where she was placed on the Dean's List each semester. She was inducted into Sigma Tau Delta, English Honor Society. She graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1995 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and Certification in Middle Education Grades 5-8.
In 1998, after serving four years as Vice President, Jeion was elected President of the Hampton Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 4260, a position she currently holds. Jeion is a member of the Executive Council of the Virginia AFL-CIO. She has coordinated both partisan and non-partisan "Get Out the Vote" campaigns in targeted areas of Hampton and Newport News since 1997. In addition, she has organized voter registration drives and restoration of rights campaigns.
With community service at the forefront of her agenda, Jeion remains active in the Hampton Alumnae Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., the Hampton NAACP, the National Council of Negro Women, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Democratic Women's Club, the Coalition of Labor Union Women, Hampton Democratic Committee and Transitions as a Board Member.