The Fulton

County Board of Commissioners will honor the students with a corporate

sponsor luncheon, and a day-long shopping spree for classy evening clothes

to be worn to the culminating event an Academy-awards-style banquet Tuesday,

April 16.

They will receive

scholarships, summer jobs and other gifts. Past honorees have been invited

to return to the banquet for a reunion.

Funding for

the Fulton County Beat the Odds Program is provided by the Presenting

Sponsor, The Coca-Cola Company, Inc.; and Gold Sponsors Jim Cowart, Inc.;

Roberts Properties, Inc.; US Filter/KHAFRA Engineering; WSB-TV Channel

2; and WVEE-FM 103.3.

"These

students, who faced life with the odds stacked against them, are shining

examples of young people who persevere and emerge victorious over those

odds," said Boxill. "Through the years I have marveled at their

sagas of triumph over adversities such as poverty and family strife. They

inspire others who face similar challenges."

Selected from

essays written by students and nominations made by teachers, counselors

and principals, the 2002 "Beat the Odds" honorees are:

·Jon M.

Goodwin, 18, a Creekside High School senior who coped with the early death

of his father and the turmoil of an unstable home to become a role model

and mentor for others;

·Willis

Clinton Harris, 17, a Booker T. Washington Comprehensive High School senior

whose love for books helped him focus on his studies and caring for his

mentally ill mother despite severe poverty and the taunts of his peers;

·Ronald

Hart, 18, a South Atlanta High School senior for whom football helped

tackle the despair of poverty and a disruptive homelife so he could excel

on the gridiron and in the classroom;

·Rasheedah

Owalabi, 18, a Southside Comprehensive High School senior whose religious

faith helped her cope with a drug-abusing mother and remain an honor student

with college plans after becoming a mother herself;

·Melissa

Simpson, 18, a Frederick Douglass High School senior who focused on her

studies and kept a "A" average despite neglect, abuse, a drug-addicted

mother and homelessness;

·Christine

Skowronek, 18, a Riverwood High School senior whose resilient spirit helped

her withstand constant physical and emotional abuse from family members

and become independent.

·Mauricio

Velasquez, 17, a Milton High School junior who survived violence, homelessness

and abuse, and drug abuse to focus on school and strive for a better future.