Jacoby Black and I'Esha Henderson

Churchill High students Jacoby Black, a senior, and I'Esha Henderson, a junior, will join five other local teenagers in Miami, Florida, to compete in the NAACP's Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO) in July. ACT-SO is a year-long mentoring program for African-American high school students. Winners of local contests in 25 separate categories of science, humanities, performing and visual arts, and entrepreneurship will compete for gold, silver, and bronze scholarship awards of up to $500 during the annual NAACP conference. "I kind of froze up last time at nationals," admits Black, who competed in the drawing category in New Orleans as a sophomore. An experienced actor and public speaker, he is entered in dramatics this time around. "I have a good feeling about this year," he allows. Next fall, Black will enter LCC or the UO to study towards a career in sports journalism. A two-time veteran of ACT-SO nationals, Henderson will compete in oratory with a reading of Sojourner Truth's 1851 speech "And Ain't I A Woman?" A basketball player since first grade, she plans to major in criminal justice on her way to a career in the WNBA.