Correspondent photo / Karla Dines Delilah Perez, 11, of Struthers, said she has been drawing her whole life, and the Winnie the Pooh drawing she created is one of her favorites. Delilah is one of 17 Youngstown Inspiring Minds artists and poets whose work was displayed at a reception Saturday afternoon at the Michael Kusalaba Library.

YOUNGSTOWN — Seventeen students in grades 3 to 11 who are part of the Inspiring Minds Youngstown Scholars program had their artwork or poetry on display Saturday afternoon at a reception for the students at the Michael Kusalaba Public Library on the West Side.

The students’ work will be on display at the library throughout February for Black History Month.

Featured artists include Malivia Blackmon-Davis, Erin Eiland, Kai Green-Richmond, CJ Hall, Journee Hardaway, Kylie-Ann Johnson, Justin Lampley, Josiah Moss, Delilah Perez, Qahirah Saleem, Oliviana Standard, Myah Starkey, Suri Stephens, Londyn Stubbs and Parris Stubbs.

Inspiring Minds Youngstown has been providing after-school and summer enrichment programs to hundreds of Youngstown youth for the past 10 years. This was the third year it has hosted a reception for the artists in the program.

IM Youngstown Program Coordinator Tammye Hardin addressed the parents, students and community members attending the display of students’ work.

“When the kids start bringing their artwork and poetry in, it is phenomenal to see what is in their head. This is what our kids have inside of them. This is not your average after-school program. We don’t babysit them. We nurture them,” Hardin said.

Qahirah Saleem, 12, of Lowellville, attends an online school and began participating in IM’s after-school enrichment program in November. She said she has been drawing her entire life.

“If I see a thing I want to draw, I seek out the best picture. I go online, get a picture and draw it,” Qahirah said.

She said she mostly does sketches on paper, but she also paints on canvas.

C.J. Hall, 15, of Boardman, is a student at Ohio Virtual Academy and has five of his poems on display. Hall takes two courses per semester at Youngstown State University and one course in the summer and has been writing poetry for about three years.

Hall is also active in local theater and is in the production of “Honk! Jr.” at the Youngstown Playhouse. Hall said he writes down his thoughts and, with his mother, turns them into a poem.

Deborah Benton of Youngstown attended the reception with her husband, Lamarr. She said her husband is very creative and artistic, and they have a daughter who is also artistic and they enjoy events like this one. Their daughter was at one time involved with IM as an interim executive director.

“We saw the promotion for the event and thought we absolutely wanted to go,” Benton said.

Delilah Perez, 11, of Youngstown, attends Struthers Middle School and began attending the IM program in the fall. Perez has five pieces of artwork in the show. She said she especially likes to draw cartoon characters, people, fruits and hands. Perez said that one of her favorite drawings is of the four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

“The Turtles were all named after artists. Leonardo (da Vinci) once said ‘a man can do anything as long as they set their mind to it’,” Delilah said.

Justin Lampley, 15, attends Ursuline High School. He wrote a poem about censorship.

“Censorship is so common nowadays. If a book about censorship is banned, what are we hiding? So I thought I would write a poem that speaks out against censorship,” he said.

“You showing up today means more to us than anything. You coming to see the kids’ work means a lot. We will be here every February as long as the library allows us to come,” Hardin said to those attending the reception.