Baldwin County Students Honored at King’s Breakfast 2026

The Baldwin County School District was honored to join community partners this morning for 'King’s Breakfast 2026', hosted by the Georgia College & State University's MLK Committee in the Magnolia Ballroom. Centered on the theme Living the Legacy: Justice, Service, and the Beloved Community, the annual gathering offered a powerful reminder that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision continues to live through the voices and actions of today’s students.

BCSD Superintendent Dr. Kristina Brooks addressed attendees following the breakfast, emphasizing the central role young people play in shaping the future of Milledgeville and beyond.

“It is a privilege to see that our young people are the heartbeat of Milledgeville,” Dr. Brooks said. “Their insights and the unity in which our young people come to us with hopes and dreams are more than words to win a competition. These words by our students should inspire us because they highlight the potential for our future.”

The morning also featured a joyful, moving rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” bringing the audience together in shared reflection and celebration.

A highlight of the program was the recognition of winners from the county-wide student art and writing contest. BCSD proudly celebrated several students for their outstanding work, including:

• K–2 Art Winner: Wade Rich, Lakeview Primary

• Honorable Mention: Madison Hurt, Lakeview Primary

• Grades 3–5 Art Winner: Annabel Jones, Georgia Military College Prep

• Middle School Poetry Winner: Ava King, Georgia College Early College

• High School Essay Winner: London Eldridge, Georgia College Early College

  
  

Ava King and London Eldridge shared readings of their winning pieces, offering thoughtful reflections on justice, service, and what it means to actively build the Beloved Community.

Dr. Brooks closed by thanking the planning committee and Georgia College for their continued partnership and commitment, and by affirming the shared responsibility to support Baldwin County’s students. In his essay, Eldridge spoke to the active responsibility of building the Beloved Community, noting that Dr. King’s vision calls us not only to believe in justice, but to live it:

“Dr. King left us an ideology that insists on justice and the practice of service, to merge the two, to speak truth to power, and to meet people’s needs,” Eldridge shared. “If we continue Dr. King’s message as a challenge to love our neighbors enough to change the systems that harm them, the Beloved Community becomes something we live out through every act of service.”

The celebration concluded with fellowship, conversation, and a delicious breakfast; an uplifting reminder that honoring Dr. King’s legacy means living it out together, every day.