High school seniors from every high school in Dallas County competed this past week for scholarships from the Selma Rotary Club. 

The scholarship is awarded each year from the civic club. First place will earn $1,500, while second place will be awarded $1,000 and third place $500.  All remaining competitors will each receive a $150 scholarship.

“We are looking at academics, extra curricular activities both in and out of school, for community involvement,” said Rotary President Manera Searcy. “We like to know where they’re going to college, what they’ll be studying and what their plans are for the future.”

Participants will given five minutes to give a presentation about themselves in front of about 30 Rotary members as well as their families and high school principals and counselors.

“We’ve done this for a long time and over the past few years we’ve increased the amount of the scholarships and decided we wanted to give everyone something for participating because they’re deserving,” Searcy said. “It’s a tough competition because these are all very bright and driven students so we just like to give them a chance to compete.”

The following students will compete for the scholarships: Aderick Moore, Selma High School; Epiphany Simmons, Keith High School; Maggie Tipton, Meadowview Christian School; Alanna Young, Southside High School; Ashley Young, Dallas County High School; Woodham Kemmer, John T. Morgan Academy; Jonathan Pettway, Ellwood Christian Academy.

The winners will be announced at a future Rotary meeting in the coming weeks.

Searcy said the competition was hard to judge because all the competitors were great students.

“It’s a tough competition because these are all very bright  students so we just like to give them the chance to compete,” Searcy said. “They all seem to want to give back to Selma, which is good. That just makes me feel hopeful for our future, that these kids are bright and they’re drive and they’re going to take over the world one of these days so I’m glad to watch that.”