Mayor Pat Moeller described Samy Broyles, who’s both the Director of Community and Alumni Engagement at Miami University Regionals, and the branch executive director at Booker T Washington Community Center and the Hamilton Central Branch for the Greater YMCA, as “a public servant every day of the week, every week of the year. He does not stop thinking about what to do to better serve our city. It’s truly an honor to honor him because he’s given so much.”
Broyles said the recognition was an honor, and he “doesn’t take it lightly because I know I wouldn’t be here without the forefathers that had put up a great fight before me.”
He’s thankful for his family who have supported him so he can continue to give opportunities to the community, and one opportunity was helping to develop the Grow Your Own teacher initiative, which encourages minority students to become teachers in the Hamilton City Schools. He’s also involved in the Hamilton Rotary Club and is a member of the Badin High School board of trustees and Hamilton Board of Zoning Appeals.
“I don’t take anything lightly,” Broyles said. “I just know it’s a blessing from above to be able to stand here today.”
Chamina Curtis is a lecturer at Miami University and is a co-founder of the Citywide Hamilton Internship Program, a 12-week internship program for minorities within Hamilton. Curtis is passionate about education, personal empowerment, community advocacy, and workforce equity and effectiveness, but it started with becoming a community advocate.
“I didn’t start out that way,” she said, saying she started with awareness and curiosity, asking herself, “‘Let me find out what’s going on in the community.’ And then from there, it just exploded.”
She worked with the YWCA of Hamilton on the Girls with a Purpose program and then was afforded the opportunity to work with the Greater Hamilton Chamber of Commerce. But it starts, Curtis said, with two words: “Get involved.”
“When you get involved, three things will happen,” she said. “One, you will meet some amazing people, which I have done. Number two, you will be able to make a difference in which you live in. You know how they talk about the Harlem Renaissance, there is the Hamilton Renaissance that is going on right now. And the third thing is you will grow. You will grow, you will get an opportunity to make a difference, you will be the difference.”
The city also honored a pair of city of Hamilton employees.
Kareem Edwards is an application support specialist who began with the city in 2020. He served in the Army National Guard for 8-1/2 years, which included an Afghanistan deployment. He and his wife have five children.
Moeller told Edwards he was “glad to have you on our team.”
Edwards, a man of few words, at least before a crowded Council Chambers on Wednesday, thanked his family, and then thanked Tim Werdmann, the city’s executive director of Internal Services “for the opportunity to work here.” He ended his brief comments of gratitude: “Love God, love people.”
Marcus Oliver, who celebrated his birthday his 28th birthday on Wednesday, was honored for his ambition and “raw talent.”
Oliver, a standout former Hamilton football star who played linebacker for the Indiana Hoosiers, is a public health environmental administrator with the city. He started, though, as a seasonal laborer in 2019 before joining the full-time ranks as a maintenance worker in public works.
He became a help desk specialist at the beginning of last year, and has been in his current position since August.
Hamilton Human Resources Director Jeanne Pope went “off script” during the recognitions to praise the former football standout, saying, “Marcus is an individual who always sees opportunity in people, places and things. He is ambitious, and he is also knowledgeable to know that networking is the greatest skill that you can have, that and just raw talent.”
Oliver, who is also on Hamilton’s Diversity and Inclusion Commission, said he was grateful for the opportunity “when I was looking for Marcus after football.”
“The people of this community helped me become who I am,” he said. “Hopefully, we can continue to build this thing, continue to build this team, and I look forward to being a part of that and seeing where Hamilton goes. I expect big things.”
The final honoree was Krystal Tipton, president and CEO of the Butler County United Way.
Tipton, who was born and raised in the city, said she “always wanted to take time and give back.”
“There’s a lot of great things that are going on in the city and more to come,” she said. “With all of us coming together in a collective effort, we get so much done. Working together, we accomplish so much more. Not one person can do it alone. If we all work together, amazing things can happen.”
The city ended the recognition with its annual proclamation of Black History Month in the city of Hamilton for February 2023.
Officials had two children ―Royal Lewis and Kierra Wilson, who are a part of the Booker T Washington Community Center ― read the proclamation and then sign it along with Mayor Moeller and Vice Mayor Michael Ryan. The children were able to keep the proclamations.
About the Author
