NATCHEZ — Two Morgantown Leadership Academy students received awards at the Jobs for Mississippi Graduates career development conference, which brought 2,000 students to the Jackson Convention Complex recently.

Seventh-graders Javion Dunbar won a chairman award for the most improved student, and Omar Pinkney won third place in finance development.

Jobs for Mississippi Graduates is a program designed to ensure high school graduation. The middle school class at Morgantown Leadership Academy is built to ensure a good transition to high school as well as improving student’s soft skills and build character.

Pinkney competed in an on-site competition at the conference, which is centered around speakers giving inspirational and educational messages.

“The conference was good,” Pinkney said. “Javion and I were the only two to win awards, but it was good to represent our district.”

Pinkney was the lone seventh grader in his finance event, competing against a group of eighth graders.

“It was just like how parents have to build a family budget,” the 13 year old said. “After the bills are paid, you have to balance what your family wants against what they need.”

Math is his favorite subject, so Pinkney said he was glad to have done well in the event.

“It’s not really hard or easy, but it makes me think a lot,” he said. “I like to be able to deal with money. I want to be an entrepreneur one day.”

One day, Pinkney said he’d like to open a restaurant after he attends Louisiana State University. And he’s already got started at home. He said he bakes often and prepares dishes such as rice and gravy, chicken, pork chops and spaghetti for his family. But he recently got an opportunity to cook for a big family gathering.

“We had a group coming up from New Orleans and the north side of town,” Pinkney said. “I had to bake rolls, cook steak with mashed potatoes and gravy, red beans and rice, and I baked a strawberry cake.

“They said it was good, but I think I could have done better. It’s the first time I had cooked for my whole family.”

Morgantown JMG teacher Veronica Jenkins said the 12-year-old Dunbar started this year off kind of rocky.

“I’m definitely pleased with his growth in JMG,” she said. “Over the year, he has matured and become quite pleasant, often helping his peers with assignments.”

Dunbar said he understood how he achieved the award.

“I showed growth,” he said. “I haven’t been talking back to my teachers much anymore, and I’ve been standing up for other kids who have been talked about.”

Dunbar said while he did feel like he has matured over the year, he was not expecting to be awarded for it.

“I was surprised when Ms. Jenkins told me to stand up,” he said. “I didn’t realize I was doing that good, but I just want to thank her for this award.”

Morgantown Leadership Academy Principal Kim Langston praised Dunbar for his role in the school.

“Instead of him being a follower for bad, he has become a leader for good,” she said.

Langston said she was not only proud of Dunbar and Pinkney, but also the work of Jenkins.

“Ms. Jenkins, being a first-year teacher, a lot of times, people get discouraged, and they have an impression about what a first year can be like,” she said. “Instead, she hit the ground running. She has come in and pretty much made this a passion of hers.”The JMG program is an important part of what the academy does, Langston said.

“With us being a leadership academy, trying to develop leaders and produce students for the business community, that happens in (Jenkins’) classroom,” she said. “And it happens because of the passion she has for her students.”

Pinkney is the son of Opal Pinkney and LeKeith Brown. Dunbar is the son of Rashunda Fulton and his aunt, Tunisia Fulton, is also involved in his upbringing.