MERIDIAN, Miss. (WTOK) -Meridian High School senior Amir Perkins was this year’s recipient of the John Wesley Johnson Memorial Scholarship. This scholarship not only holds many values but also highlights the legacy and strength of John Johnson, who loved giving back and believed wholeheartedly in the power of education and service.
John’s daughters, Jennifer Camara and Joya Johnson, and his wife, Pranati Johnson, were in attendance to personally hand the award to their recipient.
“We’re just really grateful for the opportunity to give back to this community, one that was really important for both my sister and me, our entire family, and for my dad as well. This is home for us, and so we’re really excited to give this opportunity to a student, and our dad was really a big advocate of Education, of the community, and of the city of Meridian, so it’s really exciting to be able to give this back to a student in Meridian and we’re just really excited about that,” Jennifer Camara, John Johnson’s daughter, says.
Jennifer also summarizes the importance of giving back in honor of their father, as he was very passionate about his community.
“I think a good phrase to summarize giving back to our community is each one, teach one. It’s really important that we are not only bringing our own successes to the forefront, but that we’re giving back to people and bringing them up with us. That was a really big point for my daddy. He loved giving back to his community, he loved bringing people up with him, so being able to make sure that we’re taking that journey with other people is really important. So just making sure that we’re bringing people with us that no matter how much success that we have, what schools we go to, what we’re doing within our community, what work we’re doing, that we’re making sure that we’re bringing people along with us,” says Jennifer Camara.
Joya Johnson expresses her excitement to be able to contribute to another students bright mind as they prepare to head off to their HBCU of choice.
“I’m just grateful to be here. I’m also grateful to contribute another young mind to an HBCU, which we all went to, so I think it’s great that we’ll be able to put another bright mind out there,” Joya says.
Along with Amir Perkins being awarded with this scholarship he received a host of other accomplishments, Ronald Norman Jr. and Chloe Braxton were awarded Mr. and Mrs. MHS, Janiya Hill and Taderriyon Forbes were awarded Student Council and Senior Class President awards, and a host of awards and medallions for Academic awards, Athletic awards, Performance and Serivce awards, President’s Award for Educational Excellence, MS Scholars, National Honor Society, 2024-2025 Honor Roll and a host of Leadership and Scholarship awards were given out as well.
Congratulations to the Meridian High School class of 2025!
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