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Local Kiwanis Club recognizes Students of the Year with banquet

Local Kiwanis Club recognizes Students of the Year with banquet
Local Kiwanis Club recognizes Students of the Year with banquet | Local Kiwanis Club recognizes Students of the Year with banquet
By DONNA RYDER
Associate Editor
Throughout the school year, Union City Kiwanis Club recognizes students who exemplify the beliefs of the organization by naming students of the month at Obion County and Union City high schools.
Kiwanis is devoted to the principle of service; to the advancement of individual, community and national welfare; and to the strengthening of international goodwill.
The club further honored 14 of those students by naming a Student of the Year from each high school, as well as giving 12 $500 scholarships.
The scholarships are funded by the local club through various fundraisers held throughout the year, such as serving pancakes in November, the sale of ads for the annual banquet placemats and Burgers in the Park, which is scheduled for May 17 at Kiwanis Park in Union City.
Chelsea Southerland was named Student of the Year for Obion County Central High School. She has served as president and secretary of Christian Students Association, parliamentarian and secretary of HOSA (Health Occupations Stu-dent of America) and as a member of Fellowship of Christian Athletes, National Beta Club and Foreign Language Club. She was a Girls State delegate and SCOPE (Student Congress on Policies in Education) delegate and competed in the University of Tennessee at Martin Math Competition. She is also a cheerleader and a member of the soccer team.
Miss Southerland has been a Vacation Bible School teacher, taught Clubhouse 252 at Troy First Baptist Church, participated in Operation Christmas Child and has gone on mission trips to Georgia and Mississippi. She has been a member of Obion County Fair Show and traveled abroad in 2011 through the Union City Rotary Club program.
In addition to being named a Kiwanis Student of the Month, she has received many awards, including Honors English 1, 2 and 3; Chemistry 1 and 2; and Algebra 1 and 2. She is the top student in her class.
Miss Southerland plans to attend UT Martin for pre-dental studies before going to the Health Science Center at Memphis to study dentistry.
Morgan Stone was named Student of the Year for Union City High School. She has served as class president, president and vice president of Future Business Leaders of America and secretary of Key Club. She has been a member of Beta Club, Science Club, Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Spanish Club. She has cheered for both basketball and football and was in the color guard for the Union City High School Golden Tornadoes Marching Band. She is also serving as the student representative on the Union City Board of Education.
Miss Stone is in the choir and youth group at Union City Cumberland Presbyterian Church and serves on the Youth Ministry Planning Council for West Tennessee. She has participated in Chimes for Charity, Obion County Youth Leadership and Obion County Fair Show.
Her honors include Kiwanis Student of the Month, Girls State delegate, SCOPE delegate and regional and state finalist for FBLA. She received the most spirited, most dependable and best all around cheerleading awards; and keyboarding, housing and interior design and Honors English II student excels. She has been in the Top Ten and has been named a Tornado Pride all four years of high school. She was honored by her peers by being named Class Favorite, Class Beauty, Most Likely to Succeed, basketball homecoming royalty and prom queen.
Miss Stone plans to attend Belmont University in Nashville to major in accounting.
Seven of the 12 scholarships awarded Tuesday night are given in memory or in honor of Kiwanians who have served the club and county. They include:
• Drew Crews of OCCHS, the scholarship in memory of Hap “Happy” Harton and in honor of Myrtle Harton;
• Cameron Elam of UCHS, the scholarship in memory of Turner Kirkland;
• Lauren Jones of OCCHS, the scholarship in memory of Bill Hairston;
• Blair Beachum of UCHS, the scholarship in memory of Frances Lin;
• Colton Woodward of OCCHS, the scholarship in honor of Robert Wood;
• Jessica Burnett of UCHS, the scholarship in memory of Harold Jenkins;
• Rachel Osteen of OCCHS, the scholarship in honor of Kiwanis president McKinley Johnson.
Additional scholarships were awarded to UCHS students Andrew Warner, Nancy Sanchez and Anna Moore; and OCCHS students Leah Hutchison and Megan Cook.
Murray (Ky.) State University assistant basketball coach William Small was the guest speaker. He told the students as they move forward in their lives as college students to remember the things their parents have taught them. “Your ability gets you there, but to keep you there, it’s your character. … You must resist temptation.”
He told the students they need to realize people are always watching them and they should represent themselves well in the way they carry themselves, in the way they dress, in the way they act in class and in the way they treat people.
Associate Editor Donna Ryder can be contacted by email at dryder@ucmessenger.com. Published in The Messenger 5.9.12