Madi Cantrell Officially Named National Merit Scholar

June 19, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

It’s official!

Recent DCHS graduate Madi Cantrell is a National Merit Scholar.

Cantrell, daughter of Todd and Jenny Cantrell of Smithville, is among more than 3,500 winners of the National Merit Scholarships financed by U.S. colleges and universities.

The formal public announcement was made on June 4th.

“I have been selected as a National Merit Scholar and a recipient of a College Sponsored Scholarship from the University of Alabama. With my previous National Merit Finalist scholarship offer, I will be receiving $200,000 from the university with a large portion of this directly correlated to my participation in this program,” said Cantrell.

Her field of study will be Chemical Engineering.

Officials of each sponsor college selected their scholarship winners from among the Finalists in the 2019 National Merit Scholarship Program who plan to attend their institution. These awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship. An additional group of Scholars will be announced in July, bringing the total number of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship recipients in the 2019 competition to about 4,100.

This year, 173 higher education institutions are underwriting Merit Scholarship awards through the National Merit Scholarship Program. Sponsor colleges and universities include 95 private and 78 public institutions located in 43 states and the District of Columbia.

 College-sponsored Merit Scholarship winners are a part of the distinguished group of about 7,600 high school seniors who will receive National Merit Scholarships for college undergraduate study worth over $31 million. Earlier this spring, NMSC announced winners of corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards and National Merit $2500 Scholarships.

Over 1.6 million juniors in approximately 22,000 high schools entered the 2019 National Merit Scholarship Program when they took the 2017 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. Last fall, approximately 16,000 Semifinalists were named on a state-representational basis in numbers proportional to each state’s percentage of the national total of graduating high school seniors. Semifinalists were the highest-scoring program entrants in each state and represented less than one percent of the nation’s seniors.

To compete for Merit Scholarship awards, Semifinalists first had to advance to the Finalist level of the competition by fulfilling additional requirements. Each Semifinalist was asked to submit a detailed scholarship application, which included writing an essay and providing information about extracurricular activities, awards, and leadership positions. Semifinalists also had to have an outstanding academic record, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, and earn SAT® scores that confirmed the qualifying test performance. From the Semifinalist group, some 15,000 met requirements for Finalist standing, and about half of the Finalists will be Merit Scholarship winners in 2019.

NMSC, a not-for-profit corporation that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 to conduct the National Merit Scholarship Program. The majority of National Merit Scholarships provided each year are made possible by the support of approximately 400 independent corporate and college sponsors. These sponsors join NMSC in its efforts to enhance educational opportunities for America’s scholastically talented youth and to encourage the pursuit of academic excellence.

June 19, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

Did you know that by being an organ and tissue donor you may one day help save the lives of up to eight people?

In an effort to heighten awareness about the need for organ and tissue donation, John Cunningham of Donate Life Tennessee and County Clerk James L. (Jimmy) Poss hosted a public meeting Tuesday evening at the county complex.

Abby Malone of Brush Creek, a soon to be freshman at Gordonsville High School, delivered a speech about how a liver transplant in 2015 saved the life of her grandmother, Barbara Cantrell, just a week before Abby was born.

M2U03010 from dwayne page on Vimeo.

Abby’s parents are Sammy and Nancy Malone and her mother’s parents are Dwayne and Barbara Cantrell of Alexandria.

According to Cunningham, the current donation statistics show that more than 113,000 people in the Unites States are waiting for a life-saving organ transplant with 3,000 in Tennessee. During the fall of 2018, there were five people in DeKalb County waiting and in the overall Upper Cumberland Region, the most current data shows 68 people waiting for a life saving transplant.

“Every day 20 people die waiting for a transplant, and every 10 minutes a new name will be added to the national transplant waiting list. While statistics show most Americans support donation, many individuals believe they’re unable to donate, or are unaware of ways to register.  Although age and medical history are primary determining factors, until medical professionals evaluate a potential donor, it isn’t as simple as just ruling someone out.  If you are passionate about signing up on the registry, we strongly encourage you to do so!  You’re decision today could save a life in the future!”,” said Cunningham.

“Of the 113,000 people waiting about 80% of them need kidneys while others are waiting for a liver or heart transplant. Organs from a deceased donor can potentially save the lives of up to eight people. Organs that can be donated include the heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, pancreas, and intestines and in the case of tissue donation, the lives of up to 75 people can be impacted or enhanced.

“If you are getting your driver license or renewing you can register at the driver service center. If you are at a county clerk office where they do driver license renewals you can register there as well. Also at donatelifetn.org you can register to be an organ and tissue donor,” said Cunningham.

“We hope to expand these awareness events in the future and to maybe join some surrounding counties. We would like to see more involvement. It would be nice to have people actually on the organ donor list to get involved to share their need and their stories to help bring more people out and from the donors’ side, those families are equally as important because they have already made those decisions and are benefitting these recipients who are waiting. We just need more people to join us in spreading the word how important it is that more people become organ and tissue donors,” said County Clerk Poss.

June 19, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

A 24 year old Woodbury woman was injured in a one car rollover crash at 4:23 a.m. this morning (Wednesday) on Highway 146 south of Cecil Hale Road.

Trooper Chris Delong of the Tennessee Highway Patrol said Kimberly Gunter was traveling south in a 2014 Kia Forte when she went off the left side of the road onto a grassy embankment and then came back onto the highway, crossing the center line, before going off the right side of the road and overturning. The car came to rest on the driver side.

Gunter was entrapped in the car. Members of the DeKalb County Fire Department Extrication and Rescue Team were summoned to help get Gunter out of the car.

She was then taken by DeKalb EMS to St Thomas DeKalb Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department was also on the scene.

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