PRESCOTT – With the theme of “Small Town, Bit Heart”, the 2022 Ila Upchurch Banquet was held Thursday night at the Prescott Junior High cafeteria.
While the primary purpose of the banquet was to honor local citizens for their accomplishments, the guest speaker pretty much stole the show. Sidney Moncrief, who’s father was born in Prescott, talked bout the three “Cs” of building a community. During his talk, Moncrief asked the audience questions, with prizes awarded to those who answered correctly. He began by reminding everyone success doesn’t happen unless people put in the work to reach their goals. He added, there’s no shame in failing, because if a person never fails, they’re not trying.
The first “C”, he said, is communicating effectively with everyone as without communication there can be no progress. The second “C” was connecting with one another. Moncrief told the audience we’re not all alike and have different ideas, so, along with being able to communicate, we need to connect with each other. “We’re all human. Our humanity is what brings us together.” The third “C” was collaboration. People need to work together as we all have our opinions, but instead of focusing on differences, we need to work on finding solutions. “Prescott doesn’t have to be like any other community, it’s all right to be different,” he said.
Moncrief said it’s important for adults to help young people find the greatness inside themselves and help them put it on display. He talked about the importance of kindness, saying kindness is action without expectations, adding we all need to look for ways to be kind because kindness is contagious. He urged Prescott to be a community of kindness.
Moncrief has founded more than 34 companies, was a five time NBA All Star, coached NBA teams, Dallas, Milwaukee and Golden State and has written 10 books.
However, awards were the reason people attended. These started with the Prescott High School Scholarship, which went to Kiesha Johnson. Johnson has a 3.92 GPA as a senior, is on the track and cross country teams, is a member of FCCLA, the Key Club, Upward Bound and the National Honor Society. She said hard work and dedication are the key to success and anyone can say they’ll work hard, but it takes putting in he time and effort and being committed to one’s goals. Her plans are to become a nurse practitioner.
The Educator of the Year went to Beverly Stockton. It was said she has always gone above and beyond the call of duty and worked to make sure her classroom was a place where children could learn, and making home visits so parents could be kept informed of how their children were doing. During her career, Stockton would go to yard and garage sales looking for books she could buy for her students so they would have real books of their own.
In accepting the award, Stockton talked of recognizing former students, their children and their children’s children, all of whom she taught. “I’m thankful and I’ll miss it.”
Frank Henson was named Theologian of the Year. Henson couldn’t attend due to health reasons. During the presentation, he was said to be kind, humble and someone who treats everyone as family, is concerned for others and their souls and has guided several young men to the ministry. Henson, it was said, leads by example, is part of the Ministerial Alliance, the chaplain of the Prescott Fire Department, helped found the food share and clothing ministry, and is a counselor for the homeless, who has fostered several children, been an educator and a minister for 47 years.
The Business Person of the Year Award went to Brittany Moss Seals, who founded the Southwest Medical Academy, where students are trained to become CNAs, lab techs, pharmacy tech and ECG techs, among other medical professions. Her school has 13 nurses and instructors and she travels Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana offering her services with more than 1,600 trained to date. Her school began in 2020 and currently has 113 enrolled.
Seals thanked everyone for their support, saying she’s in the process of starting a college, but didn’t know her school would turn out to be as successful as it is when she started. She talked about graduating from PHS in 2016 as a single mother who didn’t go to college.
The Citizen of the Year was born and raised in Prescott, playing football for the Wolves, and loves his hometown. This honor went to Ivory Curry, who is a member of the Prescott City Council, on the Prescott-Nevada County Chamber of Commerce board, the Prescott-Nevada County Economic Development Office board, is a member of Rotary, Leadership Nevada County’s board, pastor of the Church of God in Gurdon, where he’s been preaching 25 years, and, in 2015, began Curry’s Outreach Community Ministry, which has monthly feeds, does youth outreach and hosts a toy drive every Christmas.
“I’m grateful,” he said, “but I didn’t accomplish anything meaningful without the help of others and this is an example of how to get things done. This award isn’t about me, but the peoplewho worked to make things better.”
Three special awards were presented as well. Certificates of Appreciation went to The Spring of Hillcrest, Baptist Health and the Prescott Family Clinic.
As the banquet came to an end, Patricia Roberts thanked everyone for participating and invited anyone to use the Ila Upchurch Community Center. She talked about how the Upchurch Foundation couldn’t afford to pay Moncrief what he normally gets for speaking, so he agreed to basically speak for gas money. However, he donated his speaking fee to the Upchurch Scholaship Fund.
