Detroit Pistons award $50,000 in scholarships to six local high school seniors

DETROIT -- On Tuesday afternoon, the Detroit Pistons hosted students from high schools across the city to showcase their creative sides. The high school seniors visited the Detroit Institute of Arts to participate in the 15th Annual Black History Month Scholarship Event with Rick Mahorn.

Twenty-five seniors presented an original interpretation (poster or poem category) of the contest’s theme, “The Past. The Present. My Future.” in front of their peers, teachers and a panel of prominent members in the Detroit community who selected the winner. Three winners from each category received scholarships ranging from $5,000 to $25,000.

The event was one of four held in honor of Black History Month with the goal of showing the importance of equality, diversity, inclusion, respect and teamwork.

“Well you know, equality is the main thing that we had out,” Pistons Community Ambassador, Earl Cureton, said. “We took it a step further than that and be a little bit more creative. That way (the students) have to go back and study the past, the present leaders that we have here in the city of Detroit and around the world, and then envision those things going into the future.”

Cureton served on the judging panel along with Fox 2 news anchor Hilary Golston, Detroit radio DJ Dr. Darrius, local rapper B. Free among many others.

Judges chose the winner based on how closely they stuck to the theme of “The Past. The Present. My Future,” their adherence to the two-minute time limit and their stage presence.

The winner of the $25,000 grand prize, Deena Allen plans to use the money toward room and board next year. The Cass Technical High School senior will attend Wayne State University in the fall. She plans to double major in performance arts and forensic psychology.

“I think what I’m gonna end up doing is, of course, I’ve always been like an actor and things like this, but forensic psychology I think is a lot about helping people and helping get justice and that’s really important to me,” the 17-year-old said. “So it’s kind of falling more into my like activism side of things. So I think that’s going to be a pretty decent blend together.”

Allen knows about blending things together. Her father’s family is from the state of Georgia and her maternal side of the family has a Muslim background. Her entire life she’s had to navigate between the two cultures and she’s seen how her neighborhood and people’s views have changed.

She began writing her poem when she was around the age of 12. Now five years later, she worked up the courage to perform it to the world. She used her multi-cultural background as fuel for the words she would share. Before the competition, however, she learned that she would be performing in front of over 500 people.

“It was terrifying,” she said. “Oh, I actually did have a lot of stage fright but, I think, um, it’s easier to speak when it’s something that you’re passionate about and it’s something that you actually mean, so that took a lot of the edge off. And I feel like, it was a great platform to actually get my voice heard on, and not only that but maybe inspire others to do the same.”

That type of growth was an important part of the competition Cureton said the students will take with them. He said that she’ll continue outgrowing that fear and Tuesday afternoon’s contest will be a fond memory.

More importantly for Allen, the research and sharing her poem helped her to realize what she wants to be when she grows up.

“I also just want to be an advocate for people who can’t advocate for themselves and people who believe that they don’t have a voice and show them that they really do and that their voice means something and actually has power,” Allen said.