Contact: Tammy Lane • First Posted: Thursday, April 21, 2011

Shantoya Richardson, a senior at Bryan Station High School, was honored as the 2011 Youth Achiever of the Year at the 26^th annual YMCA of Central Kentucky’s Black Achievers banquet.

Other Fayette County students receiving scholarships were Richard Crumbie III, Sarah Kaindu and Arion Wright of Bryan Station; Bolen Brooks, Karema Bwerevu and Kelsee Jackson of Henry Clay High; Kilein Briggs and Jordan Kavanaugh of Lafayette High; Ashley Henderson, Mylika Lyons, Jerrisha Mitchell and Vashti Proctor of Paul Laurence Dunbar High; and Chase Cocanougher and Derrick Dankwa of Tates Creek High School.

These students were chosen based on their Black Achievers’ senior packet score, number of years and attendance in the program, GPA and ACT scores.

The YMCA’s Black Achievers is an educational and cultural enrichment program that prepares middle and high school students for college. It connects students with positive adult role models in the community and exposes them to career and social opportunities that are not readily available.

The annual banquet was April 16 at the Marriott Griffin Gate. The keynote speaker was Smashburger franchisee Phil Wilkins, who has raised more than $110,000 in scholarship funds from Georgetown College, Consolidated Baptist Church and individual donors, which will be spread over the next decade.

“This will help the program tremendously, and it excites me to know that we have such outstanding community leaders and role models to express the importance of education and the future of our students,” said Roxanne Brown, director of Black Achievers.

Black Achievers is selling copies of Wilkins’ book “Own Your Business, Own Your Life!” for $20, with all proceeds going to the program. Call (859) 367-7334 or email rbrown@ymcaofcentralky.org.