Meet the 19 MPS students awarded the Equal Justice Initiative's Legacy Scholarship

Hadley Hitson, Montgomery Advertiser
·3 min read

Montgomery Public Schools and the nonprofit Equal Justice Initiative launched their first partnership earlier this year: a plan to award $1 million in scholarships to Montgomery public high school graduates over the next three years.

On Monday, they announced the first group of soon-to-be MPS graduates who will each receive up to $10,000 to fund their higher education. Each of the 19 Legacy Scholars is being honored for demonstrating qualities like resilience, leadership and hope throughout his or her high school career.

“We are incredibly excited to support these extraordinary young people who have distinguished themselves at their schools. Area students need to be supported, encouraged, and affirmed when they work hard and strive to achieve greatness as these beautiful high school students have done. We look forward to naming many more scholars in the coming years,” EJI director Bryan Stevenson said in a statement.

Stevenson and MPS Superintendent Melvin Brown met for the first time in the fall of 2022 to discuss the many needs of the public school system and its students, one of them being a way to overcome barriers to higher education. They decided that the creation of the Legacy Scholarship could contribute to the solution.

"We believe that this scholarship program will improve access and opportunity for MPS students by demonstrating that a college education is attainable and more affordable," Brown said in a statement to the Montgomery Advertiser. "The cost of a post-secondary education is untenable for many and we want to do anything we can to make that easier for families to accomplish. It also shows a great deal of support from our community and our students need to know and feel that support to allow them to make their own futures."

EJI allotted each of the nine public high schools in the MPS system $20,000 to award to two graduating seniors at $10,000 a piece. Teachers and administrators at each school were given full discretion to select the winners, but Stevenson had one specific request. He wanted students to be considered for their contributions to the community, their strength and their leadership as much as their grades and educational achievements.

When it came time to divvy up the funds this year, administrators at McIntyre Comprehensive Academy could not pick just two students to award. Instead, they decided to divide the school's scholarship allotment among three students.

Here is the inaugural class of 2023 Legacy Scholars:

  • Marti Baine, Booker T. Washington Magnet High School

  • Paris Banks, Sidney Lanier High School

  • Samantha Buhanan, Park Crossing High School

  • Darryl Dees, Robert E. Lee High School

  • Ken'Tavis Delbridge, Jefferson Davis High School

  • Elizabeth Diaz, Robert E. Lee High School

  • Shalaiah Lee, Jefferson Davis High School

  • Joshua Maye, George Washington Carver High School

  • Molly Mitchell, Brewbaker Technology Magnet High School

  • Mekaiyah Portis, McIntyre Comprehensive Academy

  • Eris Robinson, Loveless Academic Magnet Program High School

  • Jamerio Robinson, George Washington Carver High School

  • Alberta Shuford, Booker T. Washington Magnet High School

  • Andrea Smith, Sidney Lanier High School

  • Bradyn Stallworth, Brewbaker Technology Magnet High School

  • Landon Townsend, Loveless Academic Magnet Program High School

  • Tiana Vanburen, Park Crossing High School

  • Shakela Walton, McIntyre Comprehensive Academy

  • Alniajai Whatley, McIntyre Comprehensive Academy

Hadley Hitson covers the rural South for the Montgomery Advertiser and Report for America. She can be reached at hhitson@gannett.com. To support her work, subscribe to the Advertiser or donate to Report for America.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Montgomery public high school seniors named 2023 Legacy Scholars