T he election of Megan Clark as the commonwealth’s attorney of Prince Edward County is a healthy sign of natural progress, democratic unification and continued healing of our community for many reasons.

The voters, who saw her skill, talent, integrity and ability to serve the county and its people, acknowledged this on Nov. 3, electing her with no ballot opposition.

Clark, a 2001 graduate of Prince Edward County High School, is very qualified to serve as the county’s chief prosecutor. Her time studying at Longwood University and Marshall-Wythe School of Law and experience in commonwealth’s attorney’s offices in Henrico and Appomattox qualify her to serve the people of this community — one that she is a genuine proud product of.

Not only was Clark educated here, but she also cares about and knows this community.

Though she never worked in the Prince Edward’s Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, the community has groomed her for the position.

“I think that it does speak volumes that the community is ready for a change,” she told The Herald recently. We agree with her, and this change is good.

“It’s also not lost on me that I’m the first female to be in that office. And the first African-American. That is not something that I harped upon at all … If you can look at me you can tell those two things.”

Because she didn’t campaign on her gender or race but on her ability to serve, ethics and credentials as an experienced prosecutor, the 32-year-old showed the community what natural growth and healing looked like and the people readily embraced it.

In a community with a history of racial discord, her ascension from the halls of Prince Edward High School to those of the county courthouse is a refreshing sign of progress.

“To be from the community, to know the history of the community and to have those two characteristics with me — in addition to my training and my experience … it is a sign of progress just because the perception is that Prince Edward is still very much healing from the school closings and segregation as a whole and I think that this is a sign of … more healing that is taking place.” We agree.

Clark’s win is a community victory that we all should be proud of.