The Middletown Area Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People held its 21st annual Louie F. Cox Scholarship fundraising banquet and freedom dinner Friday night at the Manchester Inn.

Several scholarships and other awards were given at the event, which was themed: “Youth, our legacy is their future.”

The Presidents Community Service Award was presented to Willemena Prier, Bishop Rudolph Pringle and Sherry L. Holdbrook.

Jaleesa M. Lynch of Mason, and Arthur L. Kay of Lebanon, were selected as the 2006 recipients of its Louie F. Cox Memorial AK Steel African-American Scholarships..

The college scholarships, renewable for three years, are potentially worth a total of $16,000 each.

The scholarships are funded by the nonprofit AK Steel Foundation, but winners are selected by an independent panel of college admissions counselors under the administration of the Middletown Community Foundation.

The Middletown Regional Hospital Scholarship award went to Wilson Osei, 18. He is a pre-pharmacy student at the University of Cincinnati.

Seven high school students represented the younger generation at the meeting as ambassadors of the local NAACP youth branch.

Health Chairwoman Jackie Phillips said the community needs to reach out to the youth and give them a vision for the future, so they may have a foundation on which to build their own legacies.

“We’re trying to get others involved and let other people know we care about our future,” Derrick Moore, 16, said.

Eighteen-year-old Jordan Phillips said a youth branch would inspire community service.

“We noticed how Middletown started to die, she said, “and it’s our responsibility to make it a city that people want to come to.”

Carl Moore, 17, of Dayton, entertained the 250 guests with his piano playing, which he said he uses to inspire others.

“There are successful blacks out there,” he said. “I don’t have to be the stereotypical black person.”

For the past two decades, donations from individuals, area businesses and organizations as well as those attending the banquet raised more than $34,000 in scholarship awards for black students pursuing a college education, said Vivian Washington III, president of the Middletown Area Branch of the NAACP. The branch’s scholarship was named in honor of its longtime leader Louie F. Cox before his death two years ago, Washington said. Mr. Cox’s presence and words of wisdom are ever present today among branch members, he said.

Applications are available at the guidance office at Middletown High School. Washington said the branch also will reach out other area schools for applicants. Winners will be chosen after the April 15 deadline.

Contact Lindsey Hilty at (513) 705-2551, or e-mail her at lhilty@coxohio.com.

This entry was posted by Taman Siswa on Saturday, February 25, 2006 at 8:43 pm and is filed under Education News, Scholarship. Tags: AK Steel, AK Steel Foundation, Arthur L. Kay, Carl Moore, College, Coxâ, Derrick Moore, Education News, Jackie Phillips, Jordan Phillips, Lebanon, Lindsey Hilty, Louie F. Cox, Manchester Inn, Middletown, Middletown Community Foundation, Middletown High School, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Presidents Community Service, Rudolph Pringle, Scholarship, Sherry L. Holdbrook, Student, University of Cincinnati, Vivian Washington III, Washington, Wilson Osei, . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.