Franklin Middle School Students Win Paul Robeson Awards

Four Franklin Middle School – Hamilton Street campus students received Paul Robeson Youth Achievement Awards during an April 7 ceremony at Raritan Valley Community College.

The annual awards are presented by the college’s Paul Robeson Institute for Ethics, Leadership and Social Justice.

Winning the awards from FMS were:

• Alicia Acosta Spencer, who won a Paul Robeson Youth Middle School Art Achievement Award
• Myles Cherette, who won a Paul Robeson Youth Middle School Community Service Achievement Award
• Jocelyn Knight and Derek Peters Jr., who won Paul Robeson Youth Middle School Scholarship Achievement Awards

The National Council of Negro Women and RVCC initiated the Paul Robeson Youth Achievement Awards program to pay tribute to the outstanding attainments of students in Hunterdon and Somerset counties, according to a press release about the awards.

The awards are named in honor of Paul Robeson, a Princeton native who grew up in Somerville and graduated from Somerville High School and Rutgers University. The awards were given in four areas in which Robeson excelled: Scholarship, the Arts, Community Service and Athletics, as well as special “Renaissance Awards” given to students who excel in a number of disciplines.

More than 100 students were nominated for awards by their school counselors, teachers and administrators, according to the release. A special committee of RVCC faculty and staff members selected the award recipients.

The Paul Robeson Institute for Ethics, Leadership and Social Justice was founded in 1999 to preserve Paul Robeson’s legacy in the area where he came of age as an artist, athlete, orator, and scholar. The Institute envisions a global community of diverse cultures that embodies, through attitudes and behaviors, Paul Robeson’s ideals, beliefs, values and vision for a world of justice and peace.

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