A rose to the cities of Columbus and Starkville which, with support from Mississippi State University, are giving their Black cemeteries the attention they deserve after decades of neglect. In Columbus the city hopes to partner with MSU’s anthropology students to identify an unknown number of graves at Sandfield Cemetery (est. 1820) using ground-penetrating radar and mapping. Starkville, meanwhile, is creating a more visible entrance and improving the aesthetics of Brush Harbor Cemetery (1882) with the support of MSU and civic groups. Cemeteries are the best repositories of a community’s history, so efforts to identify graves and restore grave markers are well justified.
A rose to Hunt Intermediate School for winning the Presidential AI Challenge 2026 State Championship. Sixth-graders Genesis Hill, Ryleigh Kyles, Landon Spraggin and Tyzir Turner created a project called IntelliGuard: AVD Watchout on a team supervised by teacher Johnathan Green and Principal Mone Ewing-Johnson. In the challenge, students, educators, mentors and community teams identify a problem in their community and develop artificial intelligence-powered solutions to solve it. Their project analyzes body language in video to help law enforcement with criminal investigations. Regional winners will be announced later this month, and national champions will be awarded in June. The victory means more than a trophy behind a class case. It is proof that young people can learn and develop the AI skills that will be essential for the jobs of tomorrow.
A rose to Starkville High School seniors, Sachiko Clay and Willie McGee who have earned national honors in the visual arts for their photography work. Both seniors have earned multiple regional, national and international awards during their high school careers. McGee is a national gold medalist in the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, a national competition in the creative arts. Nearly 110,000 students across the United States and Canada entered this year’s competition, and only 2.5% of students entering work were awarded gold medals. Sachiko Clay is a 2026 YoungArts Award winner with distinction in visual arts through the YoungArts national competition. We congratulate both of these seniors for their outstanding achievements.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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