Every year, one male and one female student at Knoxville High School are awarded theTallman Integrity Award. This year’s recipients are Johanna Leonard and Brandon Barkey. Johanna spoke with KNIA/KRLS news about what winning the award means to her.

“Throughout my life I have tried to be a generally nice person. I have never once seen negativity or not having integrity and good morals has helped out more than having good morals. I think that it is really good that it is being recognized because a lot of awards are based on academics or what you are involved in and how much effort you put towards those activities. The integrity award is cool to see that you are being recognized as being a good person.”

Brandon tells us what the award means to him.

“The integrity award is all about having a strict set of morals and being able to be there for other people while still being able to excel in your own things. I was very happy to receive an award like this. It made me feel like all of the efforts to make people feel like they belong were worth it.”

For more with Brandon and Johanna, tune into Thursday’s Let’s Talk Knoxville