“These students are among the best and are a true example of excellence.”
Five members of Washington Township High School’s NAACP Youth Chapter were among participants at the NAACP’s Afro-Academic Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics on April 7 in New Brunswick. SO is a yearlong achievement program designed to recruit, stimulate and encourage high school academic and cultural achievement among African-American high school students. Almost 300,000 young people have participated in the program since its inception and have competed in 32 categories of STEM, humanities, business, and performing, visual and culinary arts with the mission of preparing, recognizing and rewarding youth of African descent who exemplify scholastic and artistic excellence.
WTHS juniors Kayla Webster, Lexie Wells, Natasha Pierce, Gianna Clark and senior Nasir Randolph, under the direction of mentors Eisa Jackson and Adjua Lafleur attended the competition. The students earned the following awards:
· Gianna Clark received an honorable mention in health and medicine and a silver medal in sculpture
· Lexie Wells received a silver medal in original essay
· Kayla Webster received a bronze medal in oratory
· Nasir Randolph received a bronze medal in vocal contemporary and a gold medal in oratory
Randolph will represent WTHS and Gloucester County in the oratory category at the national ACT-SO competition this summer in San Antonio, Texas.
“I am so proud of all the students who competed in the ACT-SO competition,” said Jackson, who herself participated in the program while a student at WTHS and earned a bronze medal in dance at the national competition in Pittsburgh as a senior. “As a former ACT-SO participant and now mentor for the program, I know how much hard work, dedication and sacrifice it takes to complete a project. These students are among the best and are a true example of excellence.”
For additional information on the ACT-SO competition, visit www.naacp.org/act-so/. The program is open to all African-American high school students. Students and parents who are interested in learning more about the program are invited to email Jackson at ejackson@wtps.org, or Lafleur at alafleur@wtps.org.
