More than One Million Dollars in Scholarships Awarded to DCHS Seniors

More than one million dollars in scholarships were awarded to sixty nine members of the Class of 2012 at DeKalb County High School during Thursday's annual Senior Awards Day program.

Representatives of colleges, universities, branches of the armed services, businesses, civic groups, and other organizations made the presentations.

Heather Vidal, the Class Salutatorian, received more than $108,000 in scholarships, the largest total award presented to any student during the program. Vidal was presented a scholarship of $84,820 from Union University and the $24,000 Ned McWherter scholarship.

Meanwhile, Adam James, the Class Valedictorian, was presented an award for perfect attendance during the 2011-21 school year. Honor students and Tennessee Scholars were also recognized.

Other scholarship recipients are as follows:

Lela Ambrose
University of Tennessee at Knoxville: $30,600

Joseph Angaran:
Anthony Duane Trapp Memorial: $1,000

Christian Atnip:
Smithville Women's Club: $350

Jessica Ball:
DTC Communications McAllen Foutch Memorial: $8,000

Thomas Beltz:
U.S. Marines Enlistment

Dustin Brown:
DeKalb County Children's Service Council: $500

Chelsea Cantrell:
Love-Cantrell Funeral Home: $500

Megan Cantrell:
DeKalb Fire Fighters: $500

Tiffany Cantrell:
DeKalb Funeral Chapel: $500

Michael W. Caldwell:
Jolly Angels: $1,000
DeKalb County Scottish Rite: $1,000

Yesenia Cintron:
U.S. Marines Music Award

Erin Colwell:
David Wayne Alexander Memorial: $1,000
DeKalb Funeral Chapel: $500
Smithville Rotary Club: $750

Jakob Craven:
Dailey & Vincent Scholarship: $1,000

Alex Cripps:
U.S. Navy Enlistment: $85,000

Chelsea Crutcher:
U.S. Army Enlistment: $71,500

Jonathan Edwards:
University of Tennessee at Knoxville: $23,200
CIC Foundation: $10,000
Jolly Angels: $1,000
DCHS Beta Club Scholarship: $500

Matthew Elliott:
U.S. Marines Enlistment

Katy England:
Class of 1966: $500

Whitney England:
Tennessee Tech University: $16,000
Love-Cantrell Funeral Home Allen D. Hooper Memorial Award: $500
Jolly Angels: $1,000
DCHS Beta Club Scholarship: $500

Jeremie Ferdelman
U.S. Navy Enlistment: $85,000

Sloane Garrett:
Jeff Garrett Memorial: $500
AmVets Auxiliary: $250
Jolly Angels: $1,000

Jessica Garrison:
Tennessee Tech University: $10,000
Liberty State Bank: $1,000
Leadership DeKalb

Zachary Goldstein:
Universal Technical Institute Imagine America Foundation: $1,000

Katelyn Goodwin:
First Bank: $500
Love-Cantrell Funeral Home: $500

Todd Hasty:
Mentors Association Scholarship: $5,000

Tiffini Hendrixson:
Covenant College: $12,000
U.S. Marines Athlete Award

Johnna Hensley:
Dailey & Vincent Scholarship: $1,000
DeKalb Community Hospital: $500
FCCLA: $200

Heather Hughes:
Mentors Association Scholarship:$5,000

Brooke Hutchings:
Covenant College: $12,000
DeKalb Funeral Chapel: $500

Adam James:
Belmont University: $40,000

Sarah Jones:
Tennessee Tech University: $3,000
DeKalb County Soil Conservation District: $500

Stephanie Jones:
Martin Methodist:$25,000

Ally Judkins:
Kyle & Kenny Robinson Memorial: $1,000

Danielle Knowles:
DeKalb PTO: $300
Smithville Rotary Math Award: $100

Monse Leon:
Martin Methodist:$41,600

Tammy Li:
Liberty State Bank: $1,000
DCHS Student Council: $500
Elzie & Nell McBride Memorial: $500

Allison Little:
Tennessee Tech University: $4,000

Sarah Lomas:
Dailey & Vincent Scholarship: $1,000

Laura Martinez:
Tennessee Tech University: $10,000
U.S. Marines Scholar Award

Alex Meadows:
Lucille Stewart Memorial: $2,000
U.S. Army Athlete Award

Mason Merriman:
Kyle & Kenny Robinson Memorial: $1,000
Smithville Rotary Club: $750

Dustin Netherton:
U.S. Marines Enlistment

Tevin Owens:
Agee Oil Scholarship: $1,500
DeKalb Firefighters: $500

Jacob Odom:
University of Tennessee at Knoxville: $30,600
U.S. Army Athlete Award

Laura Pafford:
Mentors Association Scholarship: $5,000
Tennessee Tech University: $4,000

Hailey Perry:
DeKalb Republican Women: $500

Sebastian Phillips:
Clay Edwards Memorial Tiger Pride Scholarship: $500
AmVets: $250
U.S. Marines Athlete Award

Chris Powell:
U.S. Navy Enlistment: $85,000

Kidman Puckett:
DeKalb Funeral Chapel: $500

Stephanie Rackley:
Smithville Rotary Club: $750
Smithville Business & Professional Women's Club: $500

Cora Beth Rhody:
Smithville Women's Club: $350

Louis Richards:
Smithville Rotary Vocational Award: $100
NADC

Martin Riley:
U.S. Army Enlistment: $71,500

Yazmin Rivera:
Martin Methodist: $41,600

Sydney Robinson:
First Bank: $500
Leadership DeKalb

Johnna Roller:
Tennessee Tech University Cheerleading

Elizabeth Sanders:
Eddie Crips Memorial: $1,000
DeKalb Funeral Chapel: $500
Leadership DeKalb

Russell Storey:
U.S. Navy Enlistment: $85,000

Laura Sullivan:
Motlow State Community College: $4,000
DeKalb Retired Teachers: $750

Victoria Tatrow:
Tennessee Tech University: $10,000
Jolly Angels: $1,000

Zach Thompson:
MTSU: $16,000

Briana Vidal:
Cedarville University: $42,000
Comcast: $1,000

Heather Vidal:
Union University: $84,820
Ned McWhorter Scholarship: $24,000

Krystal White:
MTSU: $16,000

Ashlee Whitehead:
Smithville Business & Professional Women's Club: $500

Jacob Williams:
U.S. Marines Enlistment

Austin Wilmore:
Tennessee Tech University: $4,000

Alyssa Young:
Dailey & Vincent Scholarship: $1,000
Smithville Rotary Club: $750

Riley Young:
Tennessee Tech University: $3,000

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DCHS Special Education Teacher Looking Forward to Retirement

Although she has lived elsewhere for much of her life, DeKalb County is the place Carol Williams and her husband Don have called home now for about fifteen years.

For the past seventeen years, Williams has been a special education Algebra teacher at DeKalb County High School, a position she will be giving up at the close of the school year when she retires.

Williams, who has family ties in DeKalb County, lived here for a while herself as a child. "I am related to the Trapp family. All of my mother's family graduated from high school here," said Williams. " I went to first grade here at College Street Elementary. We lived here when I was sixteen months old until the end of my first grade year. My father was Chief of Flight Service at the airport when the Civil Aeronautics Administration, which is now the Federal Aviation Agency, was in the airport here over on Smith Road. They later closed this CAA down and moved it to Crossville, so we moved to Crossville and from second grade to high school I finished at Cumberland County High School," said Williams.

Williams said she knew early in life that she wanted to become a teacher, having been inspired by family members who were educators. "My goal in life was to be a teacher because my great aunt, Lillie Trapp Spencer, taught here for many years. An aunt and an uncle also taught here for a period of time until their job moved them elsewhere," she said.

When she took the job at DCHS in 1995, Williams taught both special education English and Math. "We split English and Math but as standards changed, it was hard to prepare lessons for two subjects. I've been teaching Algebra alone for four or five years," said Williams.

As a special education teacher, Williams has helped students master a subject that often poses challenges. " I love seeing the students start believing in themselves. They come in here thinking that they can't do the Algebra because its such a scary word. But over time that I have them in class, they begin to develop more self confidence and a majority of the time, they pass the tests and they feel better about themselves. I think its more than just educating math. Its also trying to build self esteem and knowing that, even though they do have some disabilities, how minor they may be, they have learned that they can be better than what they think they can," she said.

Williams and her husband Don, who is from Livingston, had lived in Cookeville for some twenty years before moving to DeKalb County, looking for a good place to retire. "Our plan was to retire. We had lived in Cookeville and our plan was to retire to DeKalb County. My husband worked for the state and got to know the people at the courthouse and he really liked the community too. That's why we moved here. It's a good place to retire and has great memories for me," said Williams.

Williams plans to stay busy, even in retirement. Her immediate plans are to help Judy Fuson and Ria Baker do some research for another DeKalb County history book. "I plan on spending more time with my husband who has been retired for twelve years. I plan to work with Judy Fuson and Ria Baker and another lady on trying to find the displaced people from Center Hill Lake. It's a new book that we will be working on, trying to find all the properties and families of the people who lived on Center Hill Lake, where they moved, where the cemeteries moved. We'll be looking for any pictures we can find and any type of memorabilia that has been handed down through the years as to what happened on the river and how their families adjusted to moving off the river. So that will take quite a bit of time. Plus, I enjoy bird watching. I have been doing the DeKalb County Christmas bird count for quite a number of years. I am going to be busy I'm sure," said Williams.

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