Salem Students Honored At Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation

SALEM, MA — Salem State University honored five recipients of the school's Leadership awards, as well as Salem Public Schools students for their work in an "I Have a Dream" essay contest, during last weekend's 33rd annual Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation.

The five leadership awards were bestowed for SSU student and staff contributions to freedom, justice and equality, while the public schools students were honored in the racial justice writing contest, and two additional Salem Students were honored for their essays on ongoing social injustice.

SSU undergraduate student Michael Corley, of Salem, is a media and communication major with a concentration in journalism and a double minor in English and history. He was honored with a Leadership Award for his work to establish a land and labor acknowledgment for Salem State.

Associated Dean of Students For Wellness Elisa Castillo, also of Salem, earned the administration/staff award for expanding the "holistic approach taken by counseling and health services."

Quiroz Martinez, of Houston, will graduate this spring with a Master of Education and Higher Education in student affairs. He manages the school's Educator Scholars of Color program in the McKeown School of Education.

Social Work Professor Elspeth Slayter, of Provincetown, is the faculty award recipient and serves on the Racial Equity and Justice Initiative, a regional, campus-based effort to address systemic racism and to advance racial educational equity.

SSU alumna Hope Watt-Bucci is the founder and president of North Shore Pride and is dedicated to advocating for the LGBTQIA+ community.

Co-sponsored by the Salem Human Rights Coalition, students in Salem Public Schools were asked to write essays honoring the 60th anniversary of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech.

Winners were fifth-grader Mary Asong of Witchcraft Heights Elementary School, eighth-grader Yaniel Pache of New Liberty Innovation School and Salem High freshman Tyrek Jones. Honorable mentions went to fifth-grader Savannah Champa of Witchcraft Heights and eighth-graders Yanil Ortega of New Liberty Innovation.

SSU students Vasiliki Tzortzis, of Peabody, and Alex Cepeda, of Monson, were also honored for their essays reflecting on the persistence of racial injustice.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)