The National Forum for Black Public Administrators East Central Chapter presented its annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Breakfast Monday, Jan. 18.
During the breakfast, two high school students were awarded with scholarships, those who have done extraordinary things in the community were awarded and there was a guest speaker, Dr. Brian Johnson, the Tuskegee University president.
The program started with a welcome from Damian Sinclair followed by two selections from the Tuskegee University Gospel Choir. After the musical selections, the Rev. John Wells Warren provided everyone with prayer before the breakfast that was accompanied by the Chenier sisters and their musical selections.
After the breakfast Thom Gossom Jr. introduced Johnson.
“Dr. Johnson’s focus at Tuskegee is to create a student center culture, focusing on success, engagement, parent-student satisfaction, increasing enrollment and focusing on advancement. His motto is trust the Tuskegee trajectory, trust the Tuskegee tradition,” Gossom said.
After his introduction, Johnson spoke of four aspects of King he admired: his fashion, his family and friends, his intellectual faculty and his faith. He spoke of his history and how he uses those four aspects in his life.
“When I think about his life, those four elements — his fashion, his family and friends, his intellectual faculty and last but certainly not least his faith — seems to me to be four elements that each and every one of us might wish to cultivate in our personal lives as we reflect on the meaning and the makeup of Martin Luther King Jr.’s holiday,” Johnson said.
After his speech, Johnson was given an award, but he wasn’t the only one. Catrina Cook, Ellen Ingram, Steven Hicks and Latrice Mose presented awards. Tiffany Gibson-Pitts won the Community Service Award, Dr. Frankie Bell was given Education Award and Brelinda Sullen won the Distinguished Service award.
The two scholarship recipients, Katie Jackson and Devin Guice, were announced followed by another musical selection from the Tuskegee University Gospel Choir.
Not only was this a breakfast but also a movie set. According to Kevin Flannagan, executive director for Youth for Christ, a documentary about Booker T. Washington High School is being made, which happens to be where award recipient Sullen is the principal. Youth of Christ wants to bring its story to the world, raise money for the students, as well as show how much the school has changed. Sullen has made a big difference for the students, he said.
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