Congratulations to Blanche Ely High School senior Kenny Alexis, on receiving the Jerome Edmund Gray Youth Achiever award during the annual African-American Achievers awards ceremony. The event was sponsored by JM Family Enterprises, Inc., Southeast Toyota Distributors and JM Lexus and took place on Wednesday, April 9, 2014.
The Jerome Edmund Gray Youth Achiever award is presented by The Jim Moran Foundation, Inc., with funding provided through The Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship at Florida State University. Each year a high school senior who qualifies for financial aid and has applied and received admission to FSU, receives a four-year, needs-based scholarship. The award is named after Jerome Edmund Gray, a former Achiever, who passed away in 1997. Gray was an accomplished lawyer for the Florida Department of Education and founded Broward County's first black Republican organization. He was volunteer general counsel for a local chapter of the NAACP and active in the Broward Bar Association. Gray is also remembered for inspirational talks he gave to students statewide about the importance of community involvement.
About Jerome Edmund Gray Youth Achiever Award Honoree
Kenny Alexis, Blanche Ely High School. When Kenny Alexis and his sister left Haiti five years ago to join their mother in United States, he struggled to adjust while learning English – but made a conscious choice to overcome hardships in order to achieve a brighter future. Now a senior at Blanche Ely High School in Pompano Beach who attends dual-enrollment classes at Broward College, Kenny finds motivation in wanting "to be great at something," and adds that he "would not let weakness steer him away from success." He ranks in the top three percent of his graduating class and is involved in several extra-curricular clubs including Beta Delta Sigma Math Club, Ely Scholars Association, Future Business Leaders of America and the French Club. Additionally, Kenny volunteers at his local library and tutors middle school students in math at an after-school program in Margate. As a first-generation college student with a goal of becoming an actuary for a major insurance company, Kenny plans to graduate from Florida State University with a bachelor's degree in actuarial science and pursue a master's degree in financial mathematics.
