Four students earn scholarships from Kiwanis Club

ALBANY — The Kiwanis Club of Dougherty County Foundation has awarded $5,000 in scholarships to four high-performing students at its annual Scholarship Luncheon at Hilton Garden Inn.

This year’s recipients were Marie Luz of Lee County High School, the $2,000 Gregory Neff Scholarship to the University of Georgia; Megan Hogan of Lee County High School, the $1,000 Bob Fowler Sr. Scholarship; James Robinson, dual-enrolled at Albany High School and Darton State College, the $1,000 Larry Price Scholarship; and Candace Shirley of Lee County High, the $1,000 Bob Pharis Scholarship.

All four students during their high school careers were stellar performers academically and in extracurricular activities and community service. All totaled, their academic, school, and community activities and achievements number well into the hundreds.

Larry Price of the Foundation Board presented three of the awards. The fourth, the Fowler Scholarship to Megan Hogan, was bestowed by Ida Fowler, the widow of long-time Kiwanian and local football coach and athletic legend Bob Fowler, Sr. Megan will attend the University of Georgia to pursue study of foreign languages and cultures, with a future goal of working for an international business or nonprofit organization. Megan’s parents are James and Sherry Hogan of Leesburg.

Candace Shirley is the third member of her family to earn a Kiwanis of Dougherty Foundation Scholarship. Her older sisters, Courtney and Chelsea, both received scholarships in 2014. They are the daughters of Patsy Shirley of Leesburg. Candace plans to attend Berry College in Rome and eventually become a pediatric psychotherapist.

Marie Luz, the daughter of Ricardo and Lynn Luz of Leesburg, plans to attend the University of Georgia on the $2,000 Neff Scholarship to earn a degree in computer science. She would like to use her technology education to help develop technology that will make education more accessible and affordable.

James Robinson, the son of Lillian Rambeau of Albany, is a dual enrollee at Darton State College and Albany High School and received his associate degree in history from Darton on May 7 before his high school graduation Saturday. He plans to continue at Darton over the summer to receive an associate degree in sociology, then transfer to an as-yet-undetermined four-year institution, although he would like to go to Harvard. He is also a student mentor and would like to keep on doing that, following in the steps of his own mentor, Bishop Snead.

Larry Price offered a bit of advice to the four future college freshmen.

“When you go out of town, you’ll see a lot of new things. A lot of new things will come your way that you didn’t get to see in high school. I want to remind you to keep your head on your shoulders, like you’ve done through all your four years of high school, and continue the track that you’ve been on and serve your community.”

“God is using you to make a difference, not only in the community you will (eventually) settle in, but in our nation as well.”

The four recipients were chosen, after much deliberation, from 19 applications submitted to the foundation board, which includes Price, Judy Varnell, Lance Barnes, Tommy Gay, and Doug Lorber.