For 19 years, the Council of Elders of the Black Community of Howard County has worked to chip away at the achievement gap by celebrating the accomplishments of black students.

“The recognition of our black students lets them know that someone is watching, believes in them and cares about them as a student and as a person,” said Towanda Brown, a member of the council. “That translates to improved student achievement.”

At Celebration of Excellence ceremonies over the past two months, the council recognized 3,400 county students for academic achievement during the 2014-2015 school year. In order to qualify, students had to earn As and Bs in all four quarters or on their final grades in English or math classes, or achieve advance scores on the science portion of the Maryland State Assessment.

The council has had a partnership with county public schools since 2004. During the recent celebrations, students walked across a stage and were greeted by leaders of the council and special guests, including school system administrators.

Test results from recent years show a sizable academic gap still exists between white and black students in Howard County. For example, 86.6 percent of white fifth-graders passed the 2014-2015 science Maryland State Assessment, compared with 50.4 percent of black students.

Recognition goes a long way toward closing that gap, said Keemie Titus, because it encourages honorees to continue to achieve and sets goals for other black students. Titus is a parent of a county student and achievement liaison for the school system's Black Student Achievement Program, which collaborates with the council on the celebrations.

His daughter, Mariah, a ninth-grader at Oakland Mills High School who has been recognized every year since the fourth grade, agrees.

“Just seeing the elders up there — they're like my cheerleaders,” she said. “They're always there supporting me and helping me through the years.”

Ciara Lott, an eighth-grader at Oakland Mills Middle School, is a Celebration of Excellence honoree for the second year in a row.

“It was really cool to get recognized by people because, usually in our school, we don't get recognized for getting good grades,” she said.

When her brother, Jaylen Lott, found out this year that he was a Celebration of Excellence honoree for the first time, he said he couldn't believe it.

“I was like, kind of excited and happy that I was being recognized for this,” said the Oakland Mills Middle sixth-grader. “It meant that I did good at something.”

“My brother copied me because my brother likes to be like me,” his sister said.

That is exactly the kind of motivation education advocates say they want.

“We want the siblings behind the students to see that their older brothers and sisters are achieving,” said Keemie Titus. As a result, he said, “those younger students in elementary school and middle school will want to achieve, too.”

Jaylen and Ciara Lott's accomplishments mean a great deal to their grandmother, Bernadette Allen, who has seen how far they have come.

The two have lived with her in Columbia for the past 10 years.

Allen said both children had speech difficulties and Jaylen was a very quiet boy. After Allen worked to get the siblings into school-based speech therapy programs in Howard County, they excelled.

Jaylen got involved in the local Omega Psi Phi Fraternity's mentoring program, and Ciara was supported by a teacher at Stevens Forest Elementary School who “taught her how to learn,” Allen said. She said the teacher saw that Ciara was “a child with so much potential.”

School officials say Allen played an integral part in that success as well.

“Their grandma has taken advantage of every opportunity for them,” said Patricia Branner-Pierce, an achievement specialist with the Black Student Achievement Program.

“That's why they've done so great.”

The Celebrations of Excellence are not only meant to inspire black students — they are also meant to encourage parents to take an active role in their children's education.

“We want parents to take ownership, because teachers only have students for part of the day,” said Keemie Titus said. “It takes a village. We need teachers, parents and the community; we need everyone to be involved.”