WORTON — Kent County High School’s chapter of the Minority Scholars Program inducted 14 new members, including eight freshmen, Wednesday night in a ceremony conducted in the school auditorium.
Mark Berry Jr. ’06, the first student member of the Kent County Board of Education, returned to his alma mater to address the inductees.
“Never let anyone write your story,” said Berry, who currently is director of TRIO Upward Bound at Chesapeake College.
In preparing his keynote talk, Berry said he was inspired by Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy-winning Song of the Year “Not Like Us.”
“They not like us, but we rise anyway,” said Berry, who has a Master of Business Administration from Goldey-Beacom College and is on track to finish his doctoral studies in education leadership and administration from Bowie State University in December.
Let’s be honest, Berry said.
“Some people will never understand our struggles. Some people will doubt us before they even know us. They will assume we are not capable, not worthy, not enough,” he told the students. “But we know better. We know differently. Every student, parent/guardian and school faculty member in the room refused to be boxed in by statistics, stereotypes or the limited imagination of others. They chose to rise anyway.”
At the end of the day, Berry said, “they are not like us because we are unstoppable.”
The program Wednesday night included sophomore Amara-Chi Hollins reciting a poem she wrote titled “Being a Black Citizen” and KCHS alumna Sherrisa Jeffers and her four children, ages 3 to 11, singing “The Greatest Love of All.”
KCHS inducted its inaugural class of the Minority Scholars Program in February 2019.
From the beginning, Michelle Phillips has served as the advisor.
She helped to draft the oath where students of color promise to “push for continuous improvement for fair representation in the classroom, on the playing fields, on the stage, in clubs, and in the community to support innovation and progress.”
KCHS is following the Minority Scholars Program movement that started at Walter Johnson High School in Montgomery County in 2005 to address the lack of minority students in rigorous classes and extracurricular activities.
The program is student led, student based and student driven with the primary objective of closing the achievement gap.
There are four key initiatives that all MSP programs have in common: community outreach, peer-to-peer tutoring and mentoring, college visits and a speaker series. These key initiatives and all other MSP efforts are aimed at positively changing the various school cultures so that success and achievement are no longer predictable by race, class, ethnicity or gender.
MSP students at Kent County High School are enrolled in accelerated classes, most of them have a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or better, and this year they conducted a winter coat drive as a service project
Olivia Johnson, who is headed to Morgan State University in the fall, is the chapter president. University of New Haven-bound Ny’ Auna Lively is the vice president.
Other officers are: Laila Johnson, secretary; Aniyah Tue, treasurer; Ke’yare Hawkins, public relations; and Kamari Hoxter, executive member.
Wednesday night’s ceremony began with a processional. In pairs, much like the annual high school graduation ceremony, 2025 inductees and the other chapter members walked into the auditorium. Each wore black clothing. Those who had been inducted in prior years wore their black- and gold-trimmed stole.
One by one the new inductees were called to the stage to receive their stole, which was ceremoniously draped around their shoulders by advisor Michelle Phillips, and a certificate of induction. The 2025 inductees are: freshmen Tanaya Jackson, Eden Johnson, Melanie Johnson, Alicia Kennard, Amiah Moore, Treasure Norfleet, Antonio Parker and Trinitee Sampson; sophomores Dyron Nava and Aiden Ruiz Velazquez; juniors Christopher Gonzalez-Lopez, Zulieka Nava and Kelly Sengprasert Galan; and senior Mu-Shan Rau, an international student who is studying at KCHS for the 2024-25 academic year..
Principal Kris Hemstetter described the MSP students at Kent County High School as the “next generation of trailblazers, innovators and change-makers.”
In a text message to The Evening Enterprise, Phillips, an English teacher at KCHS, thanked Hemstetter for “closing the program with the idea of inclusion, acceptance and belonging.”
Phillips also thanked keynote speaker Berry “for recognizing that we must advocate for ourselves and not just take a seat at the table but oftentimes we must partake in the meal by passing a serving of our wisdom and experience.”
Most importantly, Phillips thanked the MSP members “for representing and striving for academic excellence.”
