Students win Champions of Courage essay contest

Chloe Swagger, a seventh-grade student at West Middle School, and Uchechi Mba, an eighth-grade student at Sykesville Middle School, were among 20 winners in the Champions of Courage Black History Month Essay Competition sponsored by M&T Bank. The students appeared on WBFF-TV FOX 45, WNUV-TV The CW Baltimore, and MyTV Baltimore saluting their personal heroes during Black History Month this January and February. More than 3,000 entries were received from middle and high schools throughout the Baltimore metro area. The competition challenged students in grades 6-12 to write a brief essay saluting their personal "Champion of Courage" — a positive role model who has touched their lives by sharing the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Swagger's essay saluted her seventh-grade ELA teacher, Marian Davis, as her champion. Mba wrote about her fifth-grade ELA teacher. Each student essayist was honored and presented with a $100 prize at an awards breakfast Jan. 26 at Martin's West.