Area students awarded Kiwanis scholarships

ALBANY — Four high-achieving high school graduates from Dougherty and Lee county schools were awarded scholarships May 2 from the Dougherty County Kiwanis Charitable Foundation.

Awards were presented during the weekly luncheon meeting of the club at the Hilton Garden Inn. Honored were Genessa Mae Bagain, Lee County High School, $2,000 Gregory Neff Scholarship; Lindsay Sharon Brooks, Southwest Georgia Home School Association Brooks Academy , $1,000 Bob Fowler Memorial Scholarship; Mary McCain Potter, Deerfield-Windsor School, $1,000 Larry Price Honorarium Scholarship, and Gabryella Antoinette Sherman, Lee County High School, $1,000 Bob Pharis Memorial Scholarship.

The annual Kiwanis of Dougherty Foundation scholarship selections are based on scholastic achievement, community service and leadership ability, among other criteria.

Bagain ranked second in grade-point average and was named salutatorian at LCHS in a class of 408 while participating in numerous extracurricular school and community activities. She plans to major in biological engineering with an emphasis on biomedical. She is the daughter of Melanie and George Bagain.

Brooks has a 3.97 GPA and plans to attend Georgia Southwestern University to major in pre-pharmacy/chemistry, with plans to become a pharmacist. She is dual-enrolled at Darton State College and is the daughter of Olwen and Anthony Brooks.

Potter, a student at Deerfield-Windsor School, has a GPA of 4.59 with an ACT college readiness score of 31. She plans to attend Samford University in Birmingham, Ala., and also will pursue a career as a pharmacist. She is the daughter of Angie and Jason Potter of Albany.

Sherman’s GPA is 4.097, and she scored 1,820 on her SAT exam. She will attend the University of Georgia, majoring in biochemistry and molecular biology with a pre-med pathway intent. After completing her medical degree, residency in general surgery, and a fellowship in orthopedic surgery, Gabryelle would like to return to Southwest Georgia to open her own practice. She is the daughter of Judy and Bobbie Sherman of Leesburg.

Presiding over the presentations, Kiwanis of Dougherty Foundation chair Larry Price used a rubber band as a visual aid to describe the students’ goals.

“It serves absolutely no purpose while it’s in a relaxed position, but when you stretch that rubber band, it has energy and power to be able to do something,” Price said. “Its intention is to be able to hold something together when it’s stretched. Each one of these students, each one of these applications we had, their intention is to be able to serve others and to be able to help others, and to do something with their talents and their abilities to serve mankind, not only in our community but in whatever other communities they end up in.

“And that serves a purpose, because the world we live in today is all about me, me, me. God has taught us to serve others, and each one of these kids wants to serve others, because that’s what it’s all about.”