If DeLean Tolbert’s inspiring record of leadership and volunteerism makes you feel like singing, it’s no coincidence. In addition to holding an office in the National Society of Black Engineers for four years, helping to plan and organize the 1st and 2nd MLK Birthday March, and working as a Math/English tutor for UM-Dearborn, DeLean is a founding member of the UM-Dearborn Voices of Triumph Gospel Choir. She is also strongly involved with her church, where she is Vice President of the Annointed Voices Choir, head of the Moments in Black History segment, and a member of the Big Sister/Little Sister mentoring program, among other things.
DeLean has also volunteered with Alternative Spring Break and with the Detroit-Area Pre-College Engineering Program. It is truly no mystery to see why in 2009, the Alumni Association granted her the Outstanding Student Leader Award. However, more than seeing her name immortalized on a plaque or certificate, DeLean would like her legacy to live on in the lives of future UM-Dearborn students, “to see some of the movements…that my friends and I initiated still alive five, ten, and fifteen years from now."