![Brandon Fountain, left, received an award from the 100 Black Men of American organization. He is with DeKalb County’s Cornelius Stafford, the 2013 mentor of the year. It was the first time both mentor and mentee from the DeKalb County chapter received this recognition.](https://b463404.smushcdn.com/463404/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/MaristStudent.jpg?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1)
Marist student achieves recognition by 100 Black Men of America
Published July 4, 2013
Marist School junior Brandon Fountain won the 100 Black Men of America’s Mentee of the Year award. The awards were distributed at the 100 Black Men of America’s 27th annual conference in June.
The 100 Black Men of America is an outreach organization that aims to empower African- American communities through programs like one-to-one mentoring for children ages 8 to 18. The Mentee of the Year award recognizes someone who has overcome obstacles through a relationship with his mentor.
In his acceptance speech, Brandon said the 100 Black Men of America instilled in him the will not to use setbacks as excuses for mediocrity. He said, “This award is not a testimony to what I have achieved, but rather the countless hours that were invested in me by the 100 Black Men of America and my loved ones.” Brandon previously won the 100 Black Men of America’s Lifetime Achievement Education Award.
Prior to attending Marist, Brandon was a student in Reach for Excellence, an education enrichment program for under-served middle school students. Fountain has studied abroad in Japan and the Galapagos Islands and participated in summer programs at Stanford and Harvard universities. He will spend this summer in a French immersion program.