KU News Release

High school students win $100 prizes at KU’s Black Leadership Symposium

LAWRENCE — Three high school students earned $100 prizes for their reading analysis and writing skills at the 22nd annual Black Leadership Symposium held Oct. 18 at the University of Kansas.

Winners of the “Reading Gets You There” contest were Atchison High School students Shaina Burton, 10th grade, and Paige Peltzer, 12th grade, and Lawrence Free State High School student Daiyna Vann, 11th grade.

They were among more than 350 African-American students from high schools in Kansas and greater Kansas City participating in the KU-sponsored symposium that offered workshops and dialogues promoting leadership. This year’s theme was “Empowering Youth: Implementing Diversity.”

The reading competition required students to read selected books and write reviews of them.

The reading list for ninth and 10th graders included books by Frederick Douglass, Langston Hughes, Harriet Jacobs, James Baldwin and Alice Walker.

Reading for 11th and 12th graders included works by Ernest J. Gaines, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Margaret Walker and Richard Wright.

Student participation in the symposium was handled by area high schools and based on academic achievement and leadership potential. Students attended workshops about leadership, the importance of a post-secondary education and preparing themselves for college.

Two KU students, Camille L. Clark, junior in journalism, and Ebony S. Howard, senior in African and African-American studies and biology, presented “All You Ever Wanted to Know About KU.”

Clark is the daughter of Charles and Peggy Clark of Kansas City, Kan., and graduated from Sumner Academy of Arts and Science in Kansas City, Kan.

Howard is the daughter of Carol Aidoo of Fort Worth, Texas, and James Howard of Grand Prairie, Texas. She is a graduate of Lamar High School in Arlington, Texas.

The symposium included a workshop for high school counselors and advisers on issues that students and staff face as they navigate the college search process and a keynote address by Erica Hawthorne, also known as RhapsodE. Hawthorne is CEO of her own consulting business and has combined a career helping high school students prepare for higher education with a successful performing career.

The conference is sponsored by KU’s Office of the Provost, Office of Multicultural Affairs, Office of Admissions and Scholarships, Multicultural Resource Center and Continuing Education.

Students who attended the symposium are listed below by high school.

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