This morning, in the Magnolia Ballroom on the campus of Georgia College, our community's business and political leaders gathered to commemorate the life, service and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and celebrated two students who, through their writing, demonstrated wisdom far beyond their years.

Midway Hills Primary 2nd grader Kiersten Shinholster and Georgia College Early College 7th grader Braylen Howell were selected as winners in the 2nd Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Breakfast Essay Contest hosted by Georgia College.

The students were selected as winners from a pool of thousands of submissions from our both our local and private schools here in the Baldwin County community. Their essays, centered around Dr. King's famous speech "The Other America," took on societal challenges that our community faces as we continue the struggle for equity and equality that Dr. King started so many years ago. Their work touched on how to treat people more fairly and how to understand, that even within our own community, we must recognize and overcome the societal divisions that still exist today.

Congratulations to these young scholars for their hard work and success!