St. Mark's UMC member and rising sophomore at Bennett College receives OZY Genius Award

Marcinia Johnson, sophomore at Bennett College and member of St. Mark's UMC in Charlotte, has been selected as a 2021 OZY Genius Award Winner for her “Anti-gentrification low-income homes for seniors” initiative. Marcinia is one of 10 recipients of the prestigious award. Previous award winners include National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman.
 
Inspired by the friends of the late Harper Lee, who pooled their money together to provide Lee with the gift of a year free from work to write what would become the esteemed novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, the OZY Genius Awards provide visionary college students the means to turn their vision into reality. Each award winner receives $10,000 and a mentor to launch their project and begin changing the world.

Johnson also serves as a Lina H. McCord intern for the Black College Fund and received the prestigious Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship. 

We offer our congratulations on these accomplishments and look forward to joining Marcinia in the great work she is sure to inspire in the years to come.