Ten graduating members of the Starkville NAACP Youth Council and their parents were honored at a banquet Saturday at American Legion Post 240 in Starkville.
Youth Council advisor Savell Rice said banquets were held for graduates in years past, but that this is the first year that parents had been honored as well. Graduates honored included Jamilla Disu, Raven Cork, Kwana Baldwin, Richard Halfacre, Alliecia Hart, Allexie Williams, Joshua Rice, Jakoby Jones, JaToya Nicole Tutton, Yezenia Gibson.
“We also have to appreciate the parents, in that they helped bring those kids to where they are today,” said NAACP Youth Council Co-Advisor John Bardwell. “Without their love and support, their discipline and everything they’ve done to get them where they are, they would not have made it.”
Youth Council Advisor Shavell Rice said the youth council is the youth arm of the NAACP, and the total membership in the Starkville chapter ranks at 59, with hopes to reach 100 in the next few years.
“In the youth council, we’re developing a new generation of civil rights and community leaders,” Rice said. “That’s what it’s all about"
Rev. Tyrone Stallings of New Zion United Methodist Church gave the keynote address, focusing on the Apostle Paul.
“Paul had experienced a lot in his lifetime,” Stallings said. “He had experiences of tragedy. He had experiences of authority. He had experiences being assaulted, abused, beaten and left for dead. Paul had gone through the mill, and he understood what life was about.”
Stallings told the graduates that their lives were only just beginning, and that they should remember to live in the now.
“I want to let you know young people, that what you have done in the past can either shape the future, or destroy all of your future plans,” Stallings said. “It depends on you.”
Allecia Hart, who will graduate from SHS Friday said she was excited to graduate and added that she felt special being honored at the banquet along with her peers.
“I liked what he (Stallings) said about going to the next level with confidence,” Hart said. “I’ll really take that to heart, trying to be a better person than I was yesterday, and just work on being great.”
Hart plans on attending East Mississippi Community College and transferring into a historically black college to study business management.
In addition to honoring the graduates, a memorial was held for deceased Armstrong Middle School student Mariah Isaacs.