Achievers

The Cooperative Teachers Credit Union of Tyler recently awarded students scholarships for essays written this spring.

High Schools in 10 Tyler-area counties were invited to submit three entries to be judged by college English professors and honor students on college-level criteria.

The top 10 then were judged by the credit union’s board of directors.

The following four were selected for scholarships:

Rachel Cummings, of Como-Pickton High School, won the $1,000 Tommy Tomlinson Scholarship for her essay about high school math teacher Josh Williams and his influence on her choice to pursue a teaching degree at Texas A&M. As a rural student, Miss Cummings would like to ultimately teach in a similar atmosphere to inspire other young people.

Justin King, of Edgewood High School, wrote his essay about his plans to become a dentist with a degree from the University of Arkansas. He described his extracurricular involvement, to include volunteerism and service to student government. He gives credit to gifted and talented teacher Pat Brown for inspiration and motivation to problem solve. He was awarded the $1,000 Mary Clift Scholarship.

Amayrani Najera, of Chapel Hill High School, won the $1,000 Elmer Wynn Scholarship for her essay describing hurdles she had to jump as an immigrant to from Mexico, from learning the language to setting her current goal of becoming an educator. She plans to attend Tyler Junior College, then UT Tyler to further her ambition to teach bilingual students. She honors French teacher Karen Scheidler for teaching her that anything is possible with hard work.

Hannah Woolverton, of Grace Community High School, won the $1,000 Ed McMillan Scholarship for her essay detailing her dream to become a writer, having been inspired by authors of her favorite books and English teacher Karen Watkins. Miss Woolverton credits Ms. Watkins with being a tough critic who made her a stronger communicator. She will attend Louisiana State University and major in English.

Justin King, of Edgewood High School, was awarded the $1,000 Mary Clift Scholarship.
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