photo by: Shelley Hanson

Local students who won awards for their MLK-inspired essays and films gather Monday at Laughlin Memorial Chapel on Monday. Front row, from left, are Ember Herbert, Lyric Hill and Audrey Ilobar. Back row, from left, are Piper O’Connell, Ra’Myah Askerneese, Emma Dean, Jacob Perry, Keyuri Morgan, Dominic Paesani and Jaden Evans.

WHEELING — Local school children were recognized Monday for the awards they won during the Martin Luther King Jr. State Holiday Commission’s Celebration of Unity event held this past weekend in Charleston.

The local MLK event was held at the Laughlin Memorial Chapel in Wheeling in conjunction with the YWCA of Wheeling. Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. day, a federal holiday celebrating the birth of the civil rights leader and his work in the civil rights movement.

Students in the grade K-5 category who won awards for their essays included first place, Audrey Ilovar, fifth grader at Wheeling Country Day School; second place, Lyric Hill, fifth-grader at Wheeling Country Day School; and third place, Ember Herbert, fifth-grader Wheeling Country Day School.

Students in the Grades 6-8 category who won essay awards included first place, Jayden Johnson, seventh-grader at Triadelphia Middle School; second place, Amari Smith of Triadelphia Middle School; and third place, Piper O’Connell, eighth-grader at Bridge Street Middle School.

And in the Grade 9-12 category, Jacob Perry, a senior at Wheeling Central Catholic High School, won third place for his essay.

For the Five-Minute Film award, Grade 9-12 category, Wheeling Central Catholic High School’s Multimedia Department took first, second and third places. First place was captured by the Period 5 class, second place by the department in general and third place by the Period 7 class.

Ron Scott, cultural diversity and community outreach director for the Wheeling YWCA, said the statewide competition is open to all students including those who are homeschooled. The students’ had the choice of entering an essay, short film or song inspired by one of MLK’s quotes.

“It’s so important, to one, keep the legacy and dream alive,” Scott said. “But I think it’s important to infuse a level of creativity in kids. Any chance a child gets to be creative, it further instills the message in them because they are kind of making it their own through their creativity.”

Before the program, the students and their families were treated to a free breakfast including waffles, pancakes, scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, bacon, sausage, grits, fruit and pastries.