Wagoner Rotary doubles scholarships; announces September SOM | Wagoner County American Tribune

The civic organization has also expanded scholarship eligibility requirements to include students with a minimum 2.75 GPA who plan to pursue a two- or four-year college education, vocational/technical training, or join the military. . Recipients are selected from 18 students of the month, who each receive a $50 honorarium.

The first students of the month recognized for the current school year are Jenna McKinney and Richie Hardin.

McKinney plans to study early childhood education at Northeastern State University or Oklahoma State University.

“I knew I wanted to be a teacher when I was 7,” she said. “I want to find the best ways to teach children and the best way children learn, so that maybe one day I can teach teachers how to teach.”

She uses her training as a dancer and cheerleader to coach at camps and she has also worked summers at Joyland Daycare. She works on the school yearbook and participates in the Student Council, the National Honor Society, the Science Club, the Art Club, and Mu Alpha Theta, the math honor society.

Hardin recently learned that he was a semi-finalist for National Merit Scholar. He is a senior class president and a member of the National Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta, and the State Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council.

He is a starter for the WHS state champion varsity team and the Bulldog football team. Hardin also works at the Smokin’ Sisters BBQ.

An early childhood experience made him want to do good for others.

“I was still very young and felt completely helpless to help my sister,” he recalls. “I decided that if I became a lawyer, I could be there to fight for people who have no one.”

He plans to double major in history and political science at Yale University, the University of Chicago or the University of Kansas before pursuing law school.