Photos Provided In the front row, from left, are Grayson Bennington (Bellaire Middle School) and Amira Hartley (Leona Middle School). In the second row, from left, are Erin Miller (Martins Ferry Middle School), Zyla Tyler (St. Clairsville Middle School), Blaine Thompson (Barnesville Middle School) and Braylon Brothers (Bridgeport Middle School). All received awards at the Belmont County NAACP inaugural Martin Luther King Jr. award ceremony.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Belmont County NAACP held its inaugural Martin Luther King Jr. award ceremony on Saturday at the Kevin Barr Event Center.

The event was designed by the chapter’s MLK committee to honor children in Belmont County who embody Dr. King’s sentiments.

“We wanted to not let the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. be forgotten,” Jerry Moore Jr., Belmont County NAACP president said. “We came up with a plan to encourage children to learn of the wonderful and beautiful works of Dr. King. We felt the best way to celebrate and encourage Dr. King’s work was to honor and award middle schoolers that share some of the same qualities of leadership that Dr. King had.”

He said that the committee contacted all middle schools within Belmont County and had the guidance counselors and teachers make selections of who they felt best expressed those qualities through the school year.

“Our Committee chairs Denise Obloy and co-chair Puala Norman worked very hard on the idea and to get it out to schools this year. I am very proud of the work they did,” Moore said. “This is the first year we have tried this approach to Dr. King but we believe this formula will ensure Dr. King’s legacy will continue on in Belmont County Schools.”

While Around the World Gourmet was serving up the food, the Lord’s Girls of Macedonia Baptist Church performed. The choir was led by Alice Mitchell.

Moore said that he believes the award ceremony encourages leadership in all nine middle schools in the county.

“This is strictly for middle schoolers, because we feel that middle school age kids get overlooked sometimes with awards. It’s usually elementary or high school, so we wanted to give them something to look forward to, something that they could strive and achieve for throughout the year,” Moore said. “We also felt like this is a way to achieve the legacy of Dr. King. There’s been a lot of things said, but to encourage the works, the legacy,and the dream of Dr. King continues to go on in Belmont County.”

He added that he believes adolescence is where leadership starts to start to form in people.

Moore said that he wanted to encourage the kids that are developing into leaders to continue to grow and keep Dr. King’s dream alive.

“We want to continue to try to groom some of the new leaders of Belmont County. That started in the schools. We wanted to get all of the middle schools involved with the NAACP and the stuff that we’re trying to do in the community,” Moore said.

Eighth grader Braylon Brothers of Bridgeport Middle School, eighth grader Cavell Wade of Speiro Academy School of Fine Arts, eighth grader Blaine Thompson of Barnesville Middle School, eighth grader Zyla Tyler of St. Clairsville Middle School, eighth grader Erin Miller of Martins Ferry Middle School, sixth grader Audrey Judkins of Union Local Middle School, seventh grader Grayson Bennington of Bellaire Middle School, eighth grader Zoe O’Neal of St. Mary’s Central School, and sixth grader Amira Hartley of Leona Middle School were all honored on Saturday.