A Vicksburg teen is one of nine performers in an award-winning candlelight tour through Columbus’ historic Friendship Cemetery.

Jenorice Blackmore, 17, and fellow students from the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science, are taking part in “Tales from the Crypt,” a tour held with the annual Columbus Pilgrimage.

Beginning last fall, 42 MSMS students began working on the project. MSMS is a public, residential, coeducational high school for academically talented juniors and seniors. It is on the campus of Mississippi University for Women

The students researched Mississippians who are buried in Friendship Cemetery, and they are bringing them back to life through performances. As part of two junior U.S. history classes, nine students were chosen to introduce their character for vistors who attend “Tales from the Crypt.”

Jenorice, a junior and the daughter of Robert and Melinda Blackmore, chose to research Eichlotz Lewis, a graduate of the Industrial Institute and College, now Mississippi University for Women.

“It makes history real for the students,” said Chuck Yarbrough, a member of the MSMS social studies faculty, in a press release. “These students learn research skills and critical thinking. Then they’re challenged to turn what they learn into a performance in order to make those people come alive for the community and visitors. The students are honoring those people’s memories.”

Carl Butler, a former colleague of Yarbrough, started the project in 1991. Fourteen years later, the tour won the 2005 Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, and that same year was a national finalist for The History Channel’s Save Our History Award.