Meridian and Lauderdale County are full of young people doing great things each and every day, but we do not celebrate that nearly enough.

Two recent events highlight the accomplishments of some of our area students with the Greater Meridian Fellowship of Christian Athletes recognizing their Champions of Character Friday and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority hosting its Salute to Outstanding Minority Youth program Saturday.

Combined, the two events will recognize close to 200 students from throughout East Mississippi for their achievements in sports, academics, extracurricular activities, church and communities.

For many students, however, their efforts go unrecognized, or worse, ignored.

All too often our social media feeds and news channels highlight the young people in our area who choose not to seize the opportunities available to them, opting instead to pursue careers as semi-permanent tenants of our state’s correctional system. Snappy headlines about drugs, guns and gangs draw readers’ eyes, but they fail to accurately reflect the upcoming generation and feed a negative element in our community that seems to exist for the sole purpose of dragging us down.

At the same time, youth are constantly bombarded by messaging on their own social media and in their own circles telling them they have the wrong body shape or the wrong hair, they wear the wrong clothes, eat the wrong food and like the wrong things.

Despite overwhelming negativity online and an older generation’s inexplicable drive to declare them either completely inept or the poster children of incarceration, most of our local high school and post-secondary students are very nice people.

Whether they’re athletes coming off a state championship victory or made 100 on their algebra test, our local students deserve the support and encouragement of not just their parents or teachers, but the entire community.

We need to allow and encourage our young people, and ourselves, to celebrate the little victories as well as the big wins, reward behaviors we want to see and provide role models who embody honesty and integrity when the camera isn’t rolling.

Let’s follow the example set this week by FCA and Zeta Phi Beta. Let’s celebrate our students.