Photo Gallery: Students Continue Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Mission

The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship Trust Fund dinner was sold out Thursday and the room was filled to capacity with past, present and future recipients, their friends and families.

The fund is awarded to high school seniors "through a selection process designed to measure dedication to learning, understanding of Dr. King's mission, demonstration of character and financial need."

To date, the fund has awarded 113 scholarships to minority students in New London County; Herb Ross, of New London, was the first recipient of the scholarship in 1969.

"The fund allows many students to pursue a dream on their own terms," Ross said in an interview broadcast before the presentations.

The scholarship was for $100 in 1969 and has grown to $20,000 dollars for each recipient.

Khaleed Fields, who goes to New London Science and Technology Magnet School, said that Dr. King's legacy taught him to stand up for what he believes in – his faith, education, empowering himself and others, and his community.

"I will give hope to others in my community. The fight for education is more important than the fight for respect on the streets."

Keiron Smith, a senior at Fitch High School, said that Dr. King's work "pushed the country in the right direction" and that "he should be looked at as an example to follow."

The other 2011 recipients of the scholarship are: Jacqueline Cardoza and Robert Martin, who go to Norwich Free Academy; and, Christina Watts, who goes to East Lyme High School.

Additional scholarships were awarded to students intending to pursue careers in science and engineering. Skip Jordan, Millstone site vice president, said the scholars are already leaders and that, despite their critics, their generation is far from lost.

"Don't lose sight of one thing," he said. "It is still the individual character and will that uplifts communities today."