Featured Story - October 2003

It was standing room only at the Leon County Community Room for Leon County’s D.R.E.A.M., a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Monday, January 19, 2004. One of the greatest achievements of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the ability to help Americans appreciate diversity - cultural diversity as well as age diversity. VolunteerLEON Youth Corps paid tribute to Dr. King during a commemorative program by presenting the first-ever DREAM Award to local citizen, Gloria Jefferson Anderson. Torey Miller, a sixth-grader at Fairview Middle School, wrote the winning essay about Mrs. Anderson because she reminded him of a present-day Dr. King. She was presented with a beautiful plaque. Youth also paid tribute to Dr. King by participating in a talent showcase.

In Miller’s essay he wrote, “Mrs. Gloria Jefferson-Anderson is a well-known community activist. Like Dr. King, Mrs. Anderson believes in strength, courage, education and the ability to think critically. I feel that Mrs. Anderson should receive this award because she believes in making things better for the oppressed and down hearted. Also, she does not retaliate with hate and bitterness.”

The Youth Corps wanted a program that would allow them to pay tribute to Dr. King; show some diversity, and recognize great things in people who were older than themselves. With that in mind, the idea to display the talents of the youth in Leon County came about, along with the opportunity for young people to write an essay about a person they felt reminded them of Dr. King. They also wanted to make sure that Dr. King’s “dream” was kept alive so they wanted to include all races of people in the celebration. According to the youth, Dr. King’s national holiday is not just an African American holiday; it’s a holiday for all races, it’s the DREAM!

D.R.E.A.M represents diversity because they wanted to include all races; reflection, because youth reflected on the past; education, because they were being educated about history; arts, because the youth would display their artistic talents; and multi-generational because they wanted to include and honor people older than themselves.

Youth who participated in the talent showcase were Alexander Vaughn, Candiace Tiy-Williams, and Taylor Williams who won the audience by playing We Shall Overcome on the bells, Aaron King Vaughn who was also outstanding on the violin, Marcus Douglas, who received a standing ovation while playing one of his original compositions on the keyboard and one of his original, and an angelic trio of Autumn Singletary, Avionne Moore and Aariel Munroe singing Count on Me.

Chair of Leon County Board of County Commissioners, Jane Sauls, and Chair of the Leon County School Board, Georgia “Joy” Bowen, brought words of encouragement to the youth who planned and organized the commemorative program. The reigning Miss Tallahassee, Rosanna Lawrie, served as the mistress of ceremonies.

Leon County ’s D.R.E.A.M. was indeed a dream that came alive and will continue every year. Next year the Youth Corps would like to give away two DREAM Awards and increase by one award every year.