When the Falls Church School Board and City Council approved school integration in April 1961, FCCPS was the first school division in Virginia to voluntarily integrate its schools. In September 1961 three African American students entered FCCPS schools. Marian Costner was a sophomore when she started at George Mason High School. She was first Black student to graduate in June 1964.

The local paper reported "All is Quiet" because there were no mobs or protests in Falls Church, as there had been around the country. But in racially segregated Virginia, all was not quiet in Marian Costner's world. She endured name-calling and other challenges throughout her high school career. She says that in the end, the good outweighed the bad and ugly.

Marian Costner Selby visited Meridian High School in December 2023 to share her story with students at the Winter Band Concert. Her moving speech (video below) was an introduction to the Wind Ensemble's performance of "The Nine", written in honor of the nine student who integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957.