Darin Olatunji Oduyoye and Willie James "Jamie" Hill III are county teen-agers who just may change the world. And McDonald's thinks they can.
Darin, 17, a junior at Centennial High School, and Jamie, 16, a junior at Glenelg High School, are two of five Baltimore regional winners in McDonald's 1995 "Black History Makers of Tomorrow" essay contest.
As winners, they taped a McDonald's commercial, which began airing earlier this month locally. They also were honored at a luncheon last week in Columbia, where they were given certificates and 10 shares of McDonald's stock.
"I saw it [the commercial] once between the 'Oprah Winfrey Show,' " Darin, an aspiring journalist or broadcast promoter, said. "It was exciting. I felt proud."
The Columbia resident acknowledged that the title brings with it lots of expectations. "I believe if I continue to have a positive outlook on life, I'll be able to live up to it, if not immediately, then one day."
Similarly, Jamie, who lives in Woodbine and wants to become a film and theater production designer, said he was surprised that he was a local winner. "I didn't plan to tell anybody -- I humbled myself," he said. "Now that I've won, I have to live up to it even more."
McDonald's established the black history contest eight years ago. It is aimed at high school juniors who have demonstrated strong character, scholarship and community service.
qualify, students must write a 500-word essay titled "How I Plan to Make an Impact on Black History" and submit a letter of recommendation and a transcript of their school records.
Slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. inspired the program.
"Thanks to people like them, the dream lives on," McDonald's officials say in a print advertisement accompanied with a photograph of the five smiling regional winners.
Michael McKnight of Anne Arundel County was chosen as a national winner. He and nine other national winners attended a leadership conference in Chicago this month and received $1,000 scholarships.
Both Howard County winners plan to attend college. Darin has a 3.2 grade-point average and Jamie's is 3.5.
When he's not studying, Darin is the legislative liaison for the Howard County Association of Student Council, a peer mediator, a Spanish tutor in the Saturday Helping Hands program, a member of the speech and debate team and a promotions intern at WXYV-FM, V-103.
Jamie is involved in drama. He'll play Jim in Glenelg High's production of "Big River" next week. Also, he's a drum major, a peer mediator, in the National Honor Society and member of his school's African-American Awareness Club.
These guys have lots of confidence," said Cathy Bell, owner of the McDonald's in Columbia's Village of Harper's Choice and president of the Greater Baltimore McDonald's Advertising Association. "They are strong achievers."
Darin and Jamie are role models for all youths, not just black
youths, because they are very goal-oriented, community-minded and achievers, she said.
And both of the students want to make a difference.
"As an agent of change in black history, my goals would focus primarily on using my skills to help educate the public about African-Americans and sharing my talents that I have been given," Darin wrote in his two-page essay. "While I know in trying to reach all of these goals, I will encounter many obstacles, I firmly believe as Frederick Douglass did: 'If there is no struggle, then there is no progress.' "
Darin said his parents have taught him the importance of hard work.
But -- given his interest in a career in radio or television -- he also has been inspired by Bryant Gumbel and Oprah Winfrey, two black pioneers on television.
Dr. King is another hero.
"He was one who saw diversity as a positive, and if it weren't for people like Dr. King, I don't think African-Americans would be where they are today," he said.
"By obtaining my degree, I will become America's worst nightmare -- a black man with an education," Darin wrote in his essay. "I hope to make my people proud that an African-American male is on TV being portrayed as dignified and well-educated, instead of the stereotypes."