{"id":2211,"date":"2020-03-02T09:45:11","date_gmt":"2020-03-02T13:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/?p=2211"},"modified":"2026-07-13T22:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T02:24:08","slug":"homecoming-pride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/homecoming-pride\/","title":{"rendered":"Homecoming pride"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Sheba Needam-Thomas, her niece Whitney (left) & daughter Destiny<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

DSU alumna is also a \u2018Hawk Mom,\u2019 so says her customized t-shirt<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Monday, March 2, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheba Needam-Thomas of Worton, Md. debuted a daring fashion \u201cleap\u201d that was months in the making during UMES’ Feb. 29 homecoming basketball doubleheader. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Needam-Thomas donned a stylish black t-shirt emblazoned with four words. The front said \u201cHornet Pride\u201d accompanied by an image of a menacing wasp.  (Are there any other kind?<\/em>) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UMES women’s and men’s basketball teams played a pair of Leap Day 2020 games against the Delaware State University Hornets, their U.S. Rt. 13 rivals from Dover. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ah, but there was more to Needam-Thomas’ one-of-kind top. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emblazoned on the back of her shirt were the words \u201cHawk Mom\u201d along with the UMES athletics department’s scowling hawk head logo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Needam-Thomas, a 2002 Del State alumna, said the shirt raised a few eyebrows in the William P. Hytche Athletic Center when she encountered UMES alumni face-to-face.  One man did approach and question her choice of attire. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI smiled and quickly turned around,\u201d she said. \u201cWe both had a good laugh.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Needam-Thomas’ daughter, Destiny<\/strong>, is a UMES freshman member of the Hollarin’ Hawks<\/em> pep squad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe was definitely excited about it,\u201d Needam-Thomas said when she showed Destiny the mix-message shirt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mom Thomas came up with the idea during UMES’ annual parents’ weekend back in the fall, when she noticed the serendipity of the academic calendar showed the Hawks’ homecoming opponent was her alma mater. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Homecoming festivities at historically black colleges and universities are popular, well-attended social events that appeal to people from sister institutions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I saw they were going to play Delaware State,\u201d Needam-Thomas said, \u201cI knew I had to do something special.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

So, she reached out to Paris Cannon, a cousin in Easton, Md. who dabbles in designing custom-made clothing.  The two agreed a tongue-in-cheek top for the games staged in what promised to be a warm setting between heated rivals was the ideal textile statement, so to speak. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the past 10 years, Needam-Thomas has worked as a licensed dental hygienist in Chestertown, Md., a job she describes as a terrific career choice after initially landing a job as a dentist’s assistant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said her family has long embraced historically black institutions as a college education option.  Her niece, Whitney Vass-Needam<\/strong>, is a 2018 UMES alumna with a degree in rehabilitation services. Vass-Needam attended homecoming 2020, using her cellphone to record the festivities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Needam-Thomas said reaction to her sartorial selection already has her thinking about other custom tops she can wear to show support for her daughter, UMES — and HBCUs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Results of the doubleheader mirrored Needam-Thomas’ shirt; the Lady Hawks won their game, but the UMES men lost to their counterparts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#HawkPride<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DSU alumna is also a \u2018Hawk Mom,\u2019 so says her customized t-shirt Monday, March 2, 2020 Sheba Needam-Thomas of Worton, Md. debuted a daring fashion \u201cleap\u201d that was months in the making during UMES’ Feb. 29 homecoming basketball doubleheader.  Needam-Thomas donned a stylish black t-shirt emblazoned with four words. The front said \u201cHornet Pride\u201d accompanied…Read more Homecoming pride<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2212,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[103],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-2211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2211"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=2211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}