Canton Rotary Club Awards Scholarships to Two Students

Patch Staff Report

Four Cherokee High School students and their principal were honored by the Rotary Club of Canton with scholarships and awards. 

The cub at its weekly lunch on Tuesday, June 3 presented two class of 2014 graduates with a new scholarship.  

The scholarships, which President Kim Loesing said were only available this year due to the "successful fundraisers and good stewardship," were presented to Erin Missroon and Miguel Tuberquia. Both students each received $2,000. 

The scholarship was named the Canton Rotary Principal Debra Murdock Scholarship in honor of Cherokee High School’s principal, who recently was named the 2014 Georgia High School Principal of the Year. 

Erin plans to study English and psychology at LaGrange College. Miguel, who was his class’s salutatorian and drum major, will study biology and music at the University of Georgia. 

“These are two of the most amazing students I’ve ever known – and I’ve known a lot,” Principal Murdock said, noting Erin has “so much potential,” and that Miguel “believes better than anyone.” 

The club also honored its winners for the annual Laws of Life essay contest. A 9th-grade winner and a 12th-grade winner is selected every year from entries submitted by Cherokee High School students. This year’s winners are: Evan Tomicki, who recently completed the ninth grade, and class of 2014 graduate Ansley Key.  

The Georgia Rotary District’s Character Education Program sponsors the statewide contest each year.  

More than 41,500 students from across the state participated in this year’s contest, which named 154 school-level winners and seven state winners and distributed $19,000 in cash awards to students and teachers. 

Evan attended the club’s meeting and read his essay, which shared how his cross-country coach’s motto of “The Only Place Success Comes Before Work is in the Dictionary” has made a positive impact on his life. 

Ansley was unable to attend the meeting, but her essay, “Strangers are Friends Waiting to Happen,” about how a friendship with a Special Education student changed her life, was read in her absence. 

The Laws of Life program and the new scholarship program both were coordinated at the club-level by Rotarian Dr. Susan Padgett-Harrison, a Kennesaw State University instructor and former Cherokee County School Distict administrator and Cherokee high principal.  

The essay contest for many years has been coordinated at the school-level by Cherokee teacher Dr. Susan Buice, who retired at the end of this school year, which prompted the club to present her with a plaque on Tuesday in appreciation for her dedication to the contest. 

“This awards program is a highlight for our Rotarians each year.  We always come away amazed by the wisdom of young people and an appreciation for those who teach writing to them,” Dr. Padgett-Harrison said.