With a dozen red roses cradled in one arm and a huge smile beaming across her face, junior Kerrieann Brown was ready to start her day.
She and six of her classmates, Ngendzang FonNidkum, Shura FonNdikum, Angelique Holmes, Ella O’Neall, Janice Quainoo and Deven SainteRose, who are members of Stevenson’s Black Association Of Stevenson Students (BASS), had just won the Prominent Patriot Award for the Spring Semester, in recognition of their work on Black History Month in February. Brown’s mother and sister, among the many family members in attendance in the West Auditorium before school this morning, made her feel even more special with the roses.
“This is really nice of my wonderful Mom and sister,” Brown said, gazing happily at her bouquet. “And I feel so honored right now. I never expected to get an award like this. But we worked so hard. We were planning for Black History Month since September and it's so nice to know that is being seen. To be a part of such an amazing community in a way like this is just so great.”
Brown was actually nominated twice for the Prominent Patriot Award, the first-ever person to earn such a distinction, according to Principal Troy Gobble. Her other nomination read: “When faced with a disappointment (of not making a sports team), (Brown) turned that disappointment into a positive by stating, ‘Yes, I am a little disappointed, by I can’t wait to go out there and cheer on my friends.’”
A total of 46 students were nominated for the Prominent Patriot Award, which is distributed once a semester to students whose actions reflect those of people with good character and who demonstrate what it means to be good citizens of the Stevenson community. The seven members of the BASS Club helped put together Stevenson’s first month-long salute to Black History, which involved educational programming, discussions and fun, interactive events.
“I feel honored and I’m very glad that our actions have been recognized,” SainteRose said of the BASS Club’s Black History Month work. “I think wanting to educate others about Black History really motivated us to get the events together and it was fun coming up with ideas that we could do. I feel honored that we will forever be remembered.”
Each of the seven BASS winners will have their names inscribed on the Stanley Cup-esque Prominent Patriot Award trophy that features the names of every past Prominent Patriot Award winner. They also each got a Stevenson Patriot bobblehead.
“This is just so cool,” Brown said, referring to the trophy. “I’ll forever have a part of Stevenson, and Stevenson will forever have a part of me."
2022 Spring Semester Prominent Patriot Award Nominees
Arshad Alam, Tejasri Arambakam Madhu, Tejas Aravind, Lucas Arora, Olivia Baczek, Ayush Bajaj, Aditi Bhatia, Kerrieann Brown, Timothy Bui, Grace Catlin, Kaitlyn Ciaccio, Chad Crone, Ella Davanzo, Shura Fon-Ndikum, Ngendzang Fon-Ndikum, Jane George, Aania Gill, Jade Gipson, Nethmi Hewawitharana, Bella Hill, Angelique Holmes, Aleksandra Ilic, Surya Kambhampati, Smriti Kumar, Karthikeya Lanka, James Mendelson, Jared Meyers, Justin Meyers, Eden Mondschain, Michael Movmyga, Ella O Neall, Rahul Piramanayagam, Janice Quainoo, Amogha Ravishankar, Deven Sainte-Rose, Tanusri Samanthapudi, Nahomy Silva, Nathan Spohnholtz, Tejas Sukhatme, Ray Sun, Alexis Trojan, Vanshi Vempati, Andrew Wang, Alan Wu, Joshua Zimring, and Hailee Zuber.
