Rev. Dr. Monica Leak, left, was awarded her Doctor of Ministry degree. Pictured with her is Dr. Gina Stewart, an MTS professor and pastor of Christ Missionary Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee.. — Submitted

Staff reports

On May 17, the Rev. Monica Turner Leak was awarded the doctor of ministry degree from Memphis Theological Seminary in Memphis, Tennessee. Her dissertation was titled “Blow the Trumpet: Vocal Care and Hygiene for African-American Clergy.”

Leak holds multiple degrees including a B.S. in speech pathology and audiology from Appalachian State University in Boone; an M.S. in speech and audiology from S.C. State University in Orangeburg, S.C.; an M.A. in library science from N.C. Central University in Durham; and a master of divinity from The John Leland School of Theological Studies in Arlington, Virginia.

Presently, Leak is a speech pathologist in the Charles County Schools in Waldorf, Maryland, and an associate minister at Kingdom of Faith UHC in Washington, D.C.

Her parents, Rev. William and Patricia Turner, are retired teachers from the Rowan-Salisbury Schools and her sister, Melody Moore, is a music teacher in Germantown, Maryland.