ATLANTA — A local 8th grader just wrote an essay that’s receiving top honors at school and across the nation.
The essay is just one page long about Black History Month. It’s a quick read -- 358 words. And it’s getting Donald Smith a lot of attention.
Smith is a 14-year-old of few words. He lets his writing do the talking.
The 8th grader at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Southeast Atlanta recently wrote an essay about Black history.
“It was mind-blowing. At first, I didn’t realize it was nationwide,” Smith told Channel 2′s Berndt Petersen.
“Black History Month means a lot to me personally, and socially, with me being able to learn more about my history,” Smith said, reading part of his essay aloud.
It was entered in a national essay contest sponsored by Walmart. Of the thousands of entries, Smith’s finished in second place.
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“I had to keep a secret. I knew he won at the school level, but I did not know it was across the district, and I definitely did not know it was across the country,” his mother Nyopea Smith said.
The MLK campus community, which takes black history to heart, is very proud.
“How can we speak to individuals outside our school who may not know about Black history? Donald gave them that story,” teacher Taylor Jackson said.
“We can learn about the significance of our ancestors like Thurgood Marshall and how he was the first African American appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court,” Smith said, reading from his essay.
Smith admits he’s on the modest side when it comes to his accomplishments.
“I might not show it in my face, but I’m very proud of myself,” Smith told Petersen.
No surprise, Smith got an “A” for that essay in his language arts class.
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