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Perseverance and hard work is paying off for local
youth, Lemon Keith, as she has been named one of two
award winners at the 2007 Rising Young Worker Awards
ceremony. Keith was awarded a trophy and a $500 check
for her hard work and achievements.
Keith was nominated for the award by Mid-Cumberland
Human Resource Agency Case Manager Rochelle Walton. The
two have been working together towards Keith’s education
and work goals since she has been a participant in the
Youth CAN program. Youth CAN helps to create
individualized career action plans for each youth in the
program. By working one-on-one with youth, the
program provides the participants, either directly
through Youth CAN or by linking them to other resources-
the academic, financial, and experiential help they need
to receive a secondary school diploma or GED and to
prepare them for post-secondary educational and
occupational opportunities.
When she enrolled in the program, Keith was living with
her father and younger sister in a homeless shelter.
“Lemon had to become like a mother to her younger
sister,” said Walton.
Despite the tremendous responsibility of being a mother
figure to her younger sister, and the hardship of living
in a homeless shelter, Keith was able to graduate from
Riverdale High School with honors. The following fall,
she enrolled at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU)
as a mass communications major.
“She’s had a lot of adversity, but she’s always remained
positive,” said Walton in her nomination speech, “She
had determination; this gleam in her eyes.”
As a single mother, Keith currently maintains a
demanding schedule. She is vice-president of the MTSU
chapter of the NAACP and serves on the student
government association as a student senator for the
College of Mass Communication. In addition, she is
involved with an MTSU Bible study ministry called “Doers
of the Word.” At church, she participates in the dance
ministry program. She does all of this while attending
classes and studying, working, and taking care of her
younger sister and young daughter.
“She has been determined since I met her. She just
presses on,” said Walton.
Keith has not let her adversity slow her down. She
recently finished the spring semester with a 4.0
semester GPA and an overall GPA of 3.3. She had a
work-study job during the school year and this summer is
an intern with a beauty/barber college
magazine called
The Bottom.
Lemon is planning to graduate in May 2008 and pursue a
job in journalism, preferably working with a magazine.
She hopes to eventually publish her own magazine.
“I believe this young lady is going to achieve that one
day,” said Walton, “Because I have seen what she’s come
from and how she’s progressed.”
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