Sixty students honored at annual Senior Salute

March 3, 2022

ASHLAND, Ky. – The Boyd and Greenup Counties Branch of the NAACP and Ashland Community and Technical College (ACTC) recognized 60 high school seniors at the 28th Annual Underrepresented Minority Senior Salute on April 29.

Seniors from Ashland Paul Blazer, Boyd County, Greenup County, Fairview, Raceland and Russell high schools were honored for their academic achievement as well as given resources about continuing their education.

ACTC, Marshall University, Shawnee State University, Ohio University Southern, Morehead State University and Mountwest Community and Technical College, as well as representatives of the Armed Forces participated in a college fair. Students had the opportunity to learn how to apply for admission or get general information about the schools/branches of the military.

Representatives from Marathon Petroleum and Pathways, Inc. were also in attendance. 

The event’s keynote speaker was Chiarra Franklin. 

Franklin is a Process Engineer for Marathon Petroleum. She started with Marathon in 2019 after completing her Bachelor of Science at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. At Rose-Hulman, Chiarra was able to continue playing basketball and soccer as well as make an impact on her community via various clubs as she had done in high school. While she is a long way from home and misses BBQ and game days in Kansas City very much, Chiarra has kept the memory of her excitement during her first engineering design class in middle school. The excitement for an opportunity to make an impact on a grander scale through problem-solving and innovation.

Students who were honored were: 

Ashland Paul Blazer High School: Marco Aguilar, Ethan Boatman, Brooklyn Colburn, Malique Coleman, Lamara Crow, Lorenzo Crow, Chloe Dearing, Adrian Delgado, Ayrn Dougans, Markiah Farrow Ellison, Santiago Gutierrez, Grayson Jackson, Emelia Jagielo, Jordon Jones, Bryndon Little, Jeffrey Lovin, Deonttae Moore, Enrique Padron, Vinincio Palladino, Neshawn Peppers, Micah Poindexter, Sydney Reed, Carl Sheldon, Dakiya Shelton, Ian Slone, Kayla Taylor McDade, Calvin Troxler, Casey Wallenfelsz, Lindsay Wallenfelsz and Roy Williams

Boyd County High School: Tiara Kelly

Greenup County High School: Seven Kirven-Riggs, Haley Mapp, Anthony Rodriquez, Olivia Sexton, Anthony Slone, Zarrian Troxler and Madison Wolf

Ironton High School: Kameron Browning, Jayden Charles, Emily Campbell, Daja Fletcher, Devin Forest, Jayla France, Alba Gonzalez Cervig, Amar Howard, Kellie Howell, Symania Johnson, Charles McCall, Caleb Murphy, Braxton Pringle, Jada Rogers, Arianna Schaus, Titana Turvey and Angelo Washington

Raceland High School: Kaelyn Chambers, Carlie Royal and Kassie Wallace

Russell High School: C'Ylest D Crews and Mallory Allen