2011 Rogers Scholars graduate Cassidy Scantland, second from left, a junior at Green County High School, is the recipient of the Doug Reece Memorial Award. Lauren Hayes, youth programs coordinator, and Lonnie Lawson, president and CEO of The Center, presented Scantland with a handcrafted Appalachian dulcimer donated by Dr. Bruce Ayers, president of Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College.
Cassidy Scantland of Green County has been recognized for having the highest-scoring application among students who participated in this summer’s first session of The Center for Rural Development’s Rogers Scholars program.
Scantland, 16, a junior at Green County High School, was presented the Doug Reece Memorial Award at the Rogers Scholars graduation ceremony, held July 1 at The Center in Somerset at the conclusion of the one-week program.
The award is presented in memory of the late Doug Reece, a prominent attorney in Southern and Eastern Kentucky and former chairman of the executive committee of The Center’s board of directors.
Rogers Scholars resident adviser and former Doug Reece Memorial Award recipient Madison Wesley presented Scantland with a handcrafted Appalachian dulcimer donated by Dr. Bruce Ayers, president of Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College. Scantland also will receive a $250 scholarship to any in-state college or university as part of the award.
Afterwards, Lonnie Lawson, president and CEO of The Center, and Lauren Hayes, youth programs coordinator, joined Scantland on stage for the Doug Reece Memorial Award presentation and later presented graduates with certificates acknowledging their completion in the program.
“I have had the time of my life,” Scantland said of the Rogers Scholars program.
During the team-building and leadership exercises held the second day of Rogers Scholars at the Team Leadership Center in Wayne County, Scantland said her goal was to climb to the top of a 55-foot Alpine Tower.
“I really enjoyed the Team Leadership Center. I love physical activity, so I loved the climbing,” she said. “I accomplished my goal, and it meant a lot to me.”
Scantland was selected by The Center—which hosts and sponsors Rogers Scholars—to join 36 rising high school juniors from across Southern and Eastern Kentucky for the first of two summer sessions of Rogers Scholars. The opening week was held June 26-July 1 on the campus of The Center in Somerset.
“I am so blessed and honored to have spent this week with such amazing representatives from our 42-county primary service area,” Lauren Hayes, youth programs coordinator for The Center, said. “Each Scholar displayed leadership skills, whether it was on the Alpine Tower, ballroom dancing, or listening to instructors.
“We truly saw how much potential these students have,” she said, “and it is such an encouragement to watch them grow and develop into mature adults, but still be kids at heart.”
The Center’s board of directors created the Doug Reece Memorial Award and scholarship in his name to recognize one Rogers Scholar from each of the summer’s two graduating classes. Reece served on the board of directors from 1995 through 2005 and was board chairman at the time of his death in 2006.
