Six outstanding Madison-area students won gold medals in their respective categories at the Dane County NAACP ACT-SO competition on May 30 and will be advancing to the national stage for the Virtual National NAACP ACT-SO competition July 23-26.
“It was our first virtual competition and award ceremony in the history of NAACP ACT-SO,” Frances Huntley-Cooper, 2019-20 chair of the local Dane County NAACP ACT-SO, tells Madison365. “In our 6th year of competition, one of our students, Kadjata [Bah] had a perfect score of 100 in one of her three competitions and that has never happened before. From those receiving honorable mention to gold – they all deserve a round of applause.
“Thanks to judges, parents, media, members, supporters, volunteers and sponsors for making this program a success,” she adds.
NAACP ACT-SO is a year-long youth program, informally named the “Olympics of the Mind,” that recognizes and awards young people who have demonstrated academic and cultural achievement.
“We are excited and proud of all 10 students who worked hard and finished strong. We had three students who walked away with two gold medals – Danielle Crim, Kadjata Bah and Tziah McNair.”
This is senior Danielle’s fourth year doing ACT-SO. She has won the gold medal for the “poetry written” all four years. Danielle competed at the national NAACP ACT-SO competition in Detroit last year winning a silver medal.
“It really feels great. I’m so excited,” Danielle Crim tells Madison365. “I’m excited to go back to the national competition. That was an amazing experience for me last year. It was in Detroit, Michigan and there were a lot of people from across the nation. Nationals every year is an amazing experience because you get to be in a place with a bunch of different students from around the country who are amazing at their craft who are also really welcoming and want to collaborate together and share their ideas.
“Last year at nationals I actually won a silver medal in music composition. So that was very special,” she adds.
Saturday’s Dane County NAACP ACT-SO competition was pretty fierce. It was witnessed and cheered on by parents, friends, ACT-SO volunteers and community leaders including Dane County Branch President Greg Jones, Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes, and County Executive Joe Parisi. There was also a special guest appearance by Larry Brown Jr., the NAACP National Director of ACT-SO.
Danielle Crim won gold medals in “Poetry Written” and “Music Composition” categories and a silver medal in “Musical Performance.” Junior Tziah McNair won gold in “Original Essay” and “Dramatics Categories” and a silver medal in “Music Vocal Contemporary” category. Ninth-grader Kadjata Bah won a gold medal in the “Short Story” and “Painting” categories and honorable mention in “Poetry Written” category. Yahya Jarju won a gold medal in “Drawing” and a silver medal in “Painting.” Yahya has won gold 3 years in a row.
Madison Mosley won a gold medal for Music Vocal Contemporary. Hanna Eyobed Gold won gold in Poetry Performance. Walker Stephenson was bronze in the “Dramatics” category. Hunter Stephenson won a silver medal for Original Essay. Kadjata Bah won honorable mention for Poetry Written. Bruce Lee won honorable mention in Music Instrumental Contemporary.
“We were excited to have seven new students join us this year and look forward to each of them earning a gold in future competitions,” Huntley-Cooper says. “These are our smart, bright, intelligent students who will become our future history makers, movers and shakers of our world. We are in great hands based on what these students displayed at NAACP ACT-SO.”
Madison Country Day School was honored with the Vernon Jarrett School’s Got Talent Award.
“Named after the founder of ACT-SO, we give a traveling trophy to the school with the most participating students in our program,” Huntley-Cooper says. “This year that award goes to Madison Country Day School and congratulations to the students – Hunter Stephenson, Walker Stephenson and Bruce Lee.”
New this year, the Dane County NAACP awarded Silver Certificates to Maci Fulton and Madison Mosley for attaining Silver Medal status with a score of 90-94 points in the 2020 NAACP Dane County Branch ACT-So competition.
“The thing that I take back with me every single year is definitely the feedback that I get from the judges and I think that’s the reason why I’ve stuck with it for four years and why I’ve been able to improve every year is because you get to share your work with these judges that are really good at what they do,” Danielle Crim says. “They are also open to helping you and sharing with you advice and things to work on. It’s great.”
If you need more information or want to get a student involved in NAACP ACT-SO, contact Frances Huntley-Cooper at [email protected] or phone (608)571-4351.
