Ten students were honored at McColl Main Street Methodist Church on Sunday, August 11th with scholarships from the Bruce and Mary LeRoy Stanton and MCHS FCA scholarships.
The Stanton Scholarships were established in 1979 after the tragic deaths of Bruce in 1968 and Mary LeRoy in 1978. A supplemental fund to the Stanton Scholarship also provides scholarship funds.
The MCHS FCA Scholarships are given by The Hope House.
Sydney Freeman, Thomas Guinn, Grayson Nolan, Abbey Pearce, Kinsley Odom, Emerson McCraw, Mason Thomas, Sarah McLaurin and Jonathan Westbay, Jr. received the Stanton Awards.
Hailey Johnson and Jonathan Westbay, Jr. received the MCHS FCA awards.
Guest speaker, and former Stanton Scholar, Bobbie Jo Jones Robertson, inspired the students, sharing her journey through the world of higher education and work.
She spoke of Marvel Stanton, mother of Bruce and Mary Leroy, who did not let the tragic deaths of her children deter her from blessing the lives of others.
Robertson said there was a time in her younger life when she suffered from depression. During that time, Mrs. Stanton was her employer and her friend.
“She was like a gift,” Robertson said. “She gave me a purpose in a time that was really hard. She always shared things about God with me. We talked about her kids – how God got her through it.”
She told the college-bound students the scholarship gifts they were receiving were an opportunity to learn about themselves, their place in God’s universe, and represented their chance to help others in the future.
“God gives all of us gifts and talents,” she said. College opens up the world. Take the gift God has given you. Use it to serve Him and others.”