When Darren Brown was an intern at Middletown Regional Hospital — and possibly the first black intern in the hospital’s administration — he was pulled aside by a black housekeeper.

She whispered: “You make us so proud.”

Then when Brown, who graduated from Wilberforce University, came home on the weekends, there were what he called “cats” standing on the corner, high on cough syrup. They yelled to Brown: “Keep doing what you are doing.”

Today, Brown, 51, a 1979 Middletown High School graduate, remembers what his late mother, Catherine Brown, often told him growing up in Middletown: “Let the people in the streets do the talking for you.”

So nine years ago, Brown, special assistant in the office of Civil Rights in Washington, D.C., returned to Middletown and established his annual essay contest that awards money to elementary students: $200 for first place, $150 for second and $100 for third. He sponsored the program for two years at McKinely and Taft, and for the last seven, at Rosa Parks Elementary School.

By the time he awards the prize money, purchases the plaques and pays his travel expenses, Brown said he spends between $3,500 to $4,000.

Brown will return to Middletown on Friday to award prizes in the essay contest, and to recognize local residents who exemplify Parks’ spirit. This year’s Rosa Parks Day honorees are Kevin L. Aldridge and Celeste R. Didlick-Davis. The theme this year: Learn, Live and Leave a Legacy of a Champion.

Next year, Brown hopes to bring back all the winners of the essay contest to see how their lives have progressed.

He called himself “a giving person” who believes it’s best to share his knowledge in hopes someone may follow in his footprints.

“It doesn’t matter what side of the railroad tracks you came from,” he said. “You can make it.”

When Brown talked about his mother, who died in 1994 at the age of 54, his voice cracked. He knows she’d be proud of him. He just wishes she would have lived to see her son become a man.

“She never saw me as I am now,” he said, his voice trailing.

Brown believes it’s important to give back to your community, calling it an “obligation to help those just as those who helped us.” He also awards a $2,000 scholarship in his name every year at Wilberforce.