“Here’s a guy who serves his community very well,” Gantt said of Watt. “He managed campaigns, ran himself, was elected 10 times, did good things in Congress and ran a very important federal agency. How could this guy not be a Luminary?”

STARS board chair Marcel McCrea calls Watson’s dedication “unparalleled and unending.” An attorney and partner at Phillips & McCrea, PLLC, he calls Watson incredible and an “all-around great guy.”

“What appealed to me was that the organization was geared toward levelling the playing field for Black and Brown students,” McCrea says. “When I learned the strength of STARS was helping children with test-taking skills and confidence to achieve well on exams, I was really interested in seeing how I could assist.”

Hudson, a Mallard Creek High School senior and the Charlotte Post Foundation’s Top Senior of year, is the second person in her family to earn the award and corresponding scholarship.

“I was really shocked and honored at first,” Purnell said, “because I was applying for a lot of scholarships, and this was really this was my first one that I won. So, I was really excited to be nominated and honored to be a Top Senior scholar, and also, I was just ready to share the news with my parents and family.

Mallard Creek High’s Kyla Hudson matches older sibling as outstanding scholar

"At Byers, many students have reached grade-level proficiency and virtually every child who participates shows improved comprehension." - Gerald Johnson