Two North Texas teenagers took home gold medals at the recent NAACP Afro-Academic, Cultural Technological, and Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO) in Boston.
"My vision was to make something impressive," Isaiah Sanders said. "Something that makes people go, 'wow'!"
Sanders won a gold medal in architecture for blueprints and a model of what he called 'Bobby Marshall Stadium'.
"Bobby Marshall is actually the first African American man to play in the NFL," Sanders said.
Get top local stories in DFW delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC DFW's News Headlines newsletter.
Recent Booker T. Washington graduate Zariyah Perry won gold too for writing, directing, and producing a short film. The main character is based on her.
"She is wearing hearing aids," Perry, who is hearing-impaired explained. "Throughout her life, she has been reading lips and she didn't even know it...it's her superpower!"
Perry said the experience at ACT-SO went beyond the competition.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
"It was literally a highlight of Black excellence," Perry said. "You see people that look like you, and they're killing it, and you're killing it, and you just cheer each other on. It makes my heart happy!"
Perry said she wants to continue to make films. Sanders wants to design buildings.
"I probably want to build buildings in lower-income communities and build, like, nice buildings," Sanders said. "I want them to inspire people."
Sachse High School graduate Landon Mumphrey and Booker T. Washington sophomore Winston Morris also competed at ACT-SO this year.
More than 300,000 teenagers have competed in the national competition since it started in 1978. Past participants include Anthony Anderson, Jennifer Hudson, and Alicia Keys.
