The Detroit Pistons hosted their 12th annual Black History Month Scholarship contest Thursday afternoon. There was $50,000 in scholarship money up for grabs for the grand prize winner and the first and second runners up.
This year they changed venues, moving from The Palace of Auburn Hills to the Detroit Institute of Arts in downtown Detroit.
The theme of this year’s scholarship contest was unity and one thing all the contestants had in common is that they represented that theme uniquely but exceptionally well.
"I grew up in the 1960s and I saw all of the things, the [video] clips on there and it kind of brought a rush of emotions because we’re still struggling and we’re still trying to make it unified. Whenever we can get it unified it would be a lot better life around," says contest host and former Pistons player Rick Mahorn.
There were 10 contestants from different high schools from all around Michigan: Zahira Palmer from Carman Ainsworth in Flint, Lashawn Hedgespeth from Cass Tech, Dannah Wilson from Cornerstone Leadership & Business High School, Delvon Wells from Detroit Collegiate Prep at Northwestern, Destiny Vernon, Detroit International Academy of Young Women, Jamiliah Minter from the Detroit School of Arts, Tavion Dixon from Jalen Rose Leadership Academy, Leilani Clay from Northwestern High School in Flint and Nia Jackson from University Prep Academy.
There were two schools from as far as Flint. They presented songs, dances, speeches, poems and other forms of artwork to express their vision of unity.
"They’re talented and they’re just showing that their skills level is beyond what I could ever imagine and that's the best thing about being in this event because you have to come with your good stuff," says Mahorn.
The judging panel included current Pistons Stanley Johnson and Reggie Bullock and well as Pistons legends like Dave Bing and Earl Cureton. Earl Lloyd's son, Kevin, was also on the panel of judges along with WXYZ's Kacie Hollins.
The winner of the $25,000 Earl Lloyd Award scholarship was Leilani Clay with her tap dancing routine. She says her approach was to meld the representation of African Americans who paved the way with a lost art.
“I combined it with tap dancing which was a hidden art that no one ever really looks at it. So I just decided to bring that out to be different," says Clay. She says she has big plans for the scholarship money.
"I’m thinking about women's studies, African American studies, I’m still going to pursue dance and become a choreographer," she says.
