April 27, 2021
By: Dwayne Page
DCHS Senior Will Pursell comes from a family of attorneys.
Grandparents Frank and Lena Buck are longtime lawyers. Pursell’s brother Frank Forrest Pursell is also an attorney as well as his aunt, Melinda Buck Brown and his cousin Emeline Brown will graduate next month with a law degree from UT Knoxville. So after he gets his associate degree in Accounting from Motlow State Community College and diploma from DeKalb County High School where he has successfully completed dual enrollment, Pursell will further his education at Tennessee Tech to earn a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting before heading off to law school either at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville or the University of Memphis to follow in his family’s footsteps.
“I hope to attend the same law school as my grandfather Frank at UT and become a lawyer by age 23 just as he did. In fact I would love to someday practice law with my grandparents or brother,” said Pursell in an interview with WJLE.
A DeKalb County native, Will was a student in the local school system as a child before his family moved to Gallatin.
“I started out going to school here as a kid from kindergarten to seventh grade and then I moved to Gallatin where I attended middle school and then Beech High School as a freshman and sophomore before taking a semester at Sumner County Middle College High School and beginning my dual enrollment with Volunteer State Community College on the Gallatin Campus. In January, 2020 I moved back here and enrolled at DeKalb County High School and completed my dual enrollment at Motlow State Community College on the McMinnville campus,” said Pursell.
For his academic prowess, Pursell has earned the Motlow State Community College President’s Award in recognition of Outstanding Academic Achievement for maintaining a perfect 4.0 Grade Point Average throughout his Motlow State career.
Pursell has also complied with all the requirements for and has been inducted into the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society.
Normally Pursell would be walking the line in a Motlow commencement ceremony but this year’s event will be virtual on May 9, five days before his high school graduation on May 14.
Pursell is the son of Brice and Kathy Pursell of Dowelltown