With the culmination of another school year comes the handing out of awards and recognition. There was no shortage of that throughout the Carmi-White County School District Thursday as more than $1.5 million dollars in scholarships were handed out at the annual Awards Day ceremony. Nearly half of that amount came from the philanthropist arm that is the Absher Charitable Foundation. On the heels of donating up to $600,000 over 5 years towards establishing dual credit courses to benefit Southeastern Illinois College and NCOE as well as CWCHS, foundation representative Amber Carney dispensed 13 scholarships amounting to $48,000 each Thursday morning. The winners include Jalyza Duckworth, Victoria Duckworth, Ivy Fields, Tyler Goemaat, Layne Gwaltney, Ebonie Hawkins, Devani Mendonca, Bryson Moore, Gracie Rawlinson, Dacin Rudolph, Sophia Smith, Jessica Stephens, and Luci Stubblefield.
It was a strong year for drama students as well. Thespians crossed the stage 124 times and 6 of the 8 valedictorians are drama students.
Jaxon Albright, Jaxon Staton, and Matthew Wilson were all recognized and given a standing ovation as they’ll officially join the United States Army following graduation.
Post secondary scholarships were awarded by and to the following:
Vincennes University – Tanner Spence
Eastern Illinois University – Victoria Duckworth
Southeast Missouri State – Luci Stubblefield
Governor’s State University – Tyler Goemaat
University of Southern Indiana – Drax Aud, Cameron Courty, Ebonie Hawkins, Saylor Mason, Emma Scates, Shelby Scates
Murray State University – Isaac King, Warren Legg, Chase Pringle, Sophia Smith
Columbia College (Chicago) – Emma Rumsey
University of Illinois – Gracie Rawlinson, Emma Roedder, Brenna Russell
University of Evansville – Andrew May, Devani Mendonca
Lipscomb University – Mackenzie Pringle
Savannah College of Art and Design – Gage Atteberry
You can watch the archived broadcast of CWCHS Awards Day 23 here.