April 2013
Jessica Williams of Red Springs High School
Red Springs, NC

RED SPRINGS — Red Springs High School senior Jessica Williams is a big believer in giving back to the community, and for that reason, cheerleading has always been natural fit.

“We don’t just build ourselves, we’re there to build other peoples’ character as well. Like with the basketball teams and football teams, we’re there to push them on,” she said. “We give them those encouraging words that others might not.”

Though cheerleading is a simple way of giving back, it’s merely the beginning of the list of ways in which she works to support a community that has always supported her.

The dedication she brings to her community, along with her school spirit and overall academic success, was among the reasons she was chosen as April’s Mountaire Farms/Civitas Media Scholar Athlete of the Month.

The program’s mission is to highlight male and female senior student-athletes within Robeson, Scotland and Bladen counties who carry a 3.0 GPA or higher. Nominees need to also be recognized by their coaches for outstanding sportsmanship and perform with superior ability in athletic competition.

Each monthly winner receives a $1,000 college scholarship and becomes eligible for an additional $1,500 in college funds that is awarded in June to the male and female scholar athletes of the year.

Athletically, Williams has dedicated herself to cheerleading since she first tried it in elementary school. By the time she was in high school, she made the varsity team at Red Springs as a freshman and has a penchant for the spirit involved with the sport. She’s earned numerous awards from her team for being the most spirited.

Inside the classroom, Williams has amassed a 4.3 grade point average, taking advantage of high-level classes.  Her commitment to academics was part of why Kathy Piazza, an English teacher and cheer coach at Red Springs, nominated her for the award.

“Jessica has always challenged herself academically,” Piazza said in her nomination letter. “She is an active participant in class discussions and grasps material quickly. She has superb written and verbal skills that are a pleasure for any teacher to encounter.”

Williams said academics have always been her top priority, coming above cheerleading and her other endeavors.  At Red Springs she is the Student Government Association president, the Beta Club vice president, and has been involved with numerous other clubs during her time at the school. Additionally, she is involved in HOSA, which gives students interested in nursing the chance to volunteer at long-term care facilities.

Outside the school Williams has a strong presence in her church, and volunteers at multiple places. She said much of her service-driven attitude stems from adversity she overcame when she was younger.

“I was picked on a lot and I know how that feels,” Williams said. “I know how it is to struggle and I want to be able to help somebody. I want them to see that I’m not picture perfect, but I overcame what people thought I couldn’t be.”

Ultimately Williams believes her calling is in nursing.  This fall she will be going to Methodist University in Fayetteville, where she’ll take the first steps in becoming a nurse practitioner.  She’ll follow similar footsteps of her mother, who is a nurse, but is also inspired by an aunt that dealt with cancer.

"I love to give back, so instead of getting, getting, getting all the time, I want to be able to help somebody else,” Williams said. “Maybe I can cure something, or find something that’s wrong with them before they have to go through what my aunt had to go through.”

While at Methodist, she will also get an opportunity to do what she loves most and will be a member of the university’s cheer team.  Though cheering wasn’t the primary reason she picked the school, she’s excited for it and all the opportunities the sport has given her. 

“I really thank God for being able to get and see the different things I’ve been able to see,” Williams said, “because, at first it seems like things aren’t going right or you aren’t getting exactly what you thought, but it’s like my hard work is paying off.”

 

March 2013
Isaac Bell of Lumberton High School
Lumberton, NC

LUMBERTON — When Lumberton High School senior Isaac Bell takes the tennis court, there are few returns he won’t try and tackle.

Whether it’s close to the net or deep in the corner, he refuses to be passed by the opposition.

“A lot of people tell me that I’m better than a lot of tennis players because some give up on plays and I usually try to go for every ball, no matter if it goes in or out, just to keep the play going,” Bell said.

It’s a work ethic that plays out not just on the tennis court, but in all aspects of his life, be it the soccer field, the classroom, or his numerous extracurricular endeavors. The all-around success and his contributions to the community were among the reasons he was chosen as March’s Mountaire Farms/Civitas Media Scholar Athlete of the Month.

The program’s mission is to highlight male and female senior student-athletes within Robeson, Scotland and Bladen counties who carry a 3.0 GPA or higher. Nominees need to also be recognized by their coaches for outstanding sportsmanship and perform with superior ability in athletic competition.

Each monthly winner receives a $1,000 college scholarship and becomes eligible for an additional $1,500 in college funds that is awarded in June to the male and female scholar athletes of the year.

Athletically, Bell is a two-sport athlete that competes in both tennis and soccer. Academically, he’s ranked fourth in his class with a 4.64 weighted grade point average, 3.93 unweighted.

“He’s an outstanding young man. He epitomizes the term student-athlete,” said LHS soccer coach Kenny Simmons, who nominated Bell for the award.

A Robeson County native, Bell was raised in Pembroke and moved to Lumberton late in elementary school.

When he was young, he played baseball, basketball and football but it wasn’t until his move to Lumberton that he picked up soccer and tennis, the two sports he’s now known for. When he moved to Lumberton, he got involved in an indoor soccer league with some friends.

“I figured I’d try something during the winter just to have fun,” he said.

He ended up discovering one of his passions and decided in middle school to forgo another year of football to try out for soccer. He played one year of recreation soccer before joining the traveling team in the spring.

His tennis career got off to an even later start.

Bell played baseball through 8th grade, but didn’t enjoy certain aspects of the game and decided to give tennis a shot instead. It was a sport he was already somewhat familiar with, having played with his dad.

“I was decent,” he said. “Only the top six seeds play (varsity), and the first year I was No. 12, but after that I got pretty good.”

Despite getting a late start in both sports, he’ll leave the school with plenty of honors.

He won the soccer team’s Most Improved award as a sophomore and was a team captain, All-Conference and All-Region last fall.

In tennis, he won the team’s Most Improved award as both a sophomore and a junior, and was All-Conference honorable mention last spring. He’s the team’s top player during the on-going season and also its captain. He helped last year’s team make its first state tournament appearance in five years.

In the soccer team’s case, Simmons said Bell was a good choice as captain because he’s trusted by both his peers and his coaches.

“He’s one of those kids that you truly enjoy coaching and don’t have to worry about,” Simmons said. “You know he’s going to do the right thing on the field and off.”

The work ethic Bell has on the field is one that translates from the one he has in the classroom.

Since starting high school, Bell has given him a rigorous schedule of classes that include honors and AP, where available, and never gotten a grade lower than an A-.

He credits his success to positive role models throughout his life, including several teachers and his sister, Victoria Bell, a former LHS volleyball team captain who now teaches at Tanglewood Elementary.

“I looked to her as a role model and she showed me the ropes of time management and making sure you get your work done first, then you can play your sports,” Bell said.

Issac also has an abundance of extracurriculars.

On top of being president of the LHS chapter of the National Honor Society, he’s a member of the Leo Club, the Beta Club, the Asian Club, the Native American Student Alliance, and was a founder of the Pirate Nation club, which encourages school spirit at athletic events.

Bell also helps out at other schools in the district as a member of the Teacher Cadet program and the Breakfast Buddies program, in which he mentors at-risk elementary school students.

Through the programs, he’s watched some of the students he helped when he was younger arrive at the high school.

“I would see those same kids (in middle school), and now they’re freshman here,” he said. “It’s just cool that they got here and they’re in Pirate Nation and they’re in clubs like that when they used to be another student that I went to teach.”

Bell plans on attending the University of North Carolina Wilmington in the fall and will major in communication studies. He hopes to eventually work for a college or university doing public relations work.

Bell doesn’t plan on playing varsity level sports when he gets to college, but will remain active playing intramurals for fun and hopes to get a spot on the club soccer team at UNCW.
 

February 2013
Mackenze "Mac" McGill of Lumberton High School
Lumberton, NC

LUMBERTON — For Lumberton High School senior Mackenzie “Mac” McGill, there was hardly a closer relationship within his family than the one he had with Sonny.

“I have four brothers and he’s the one I’ve pretty much grown up with my entire life,” McGill said Thursday about his late brother, Rufus Arthur McGill II. “He taught me how to ride a bicycle.”

With the love, there was loss last October, when Sonny was injured in a car accident in Virginia. He spent several weeks in a coma before passing away Nov. 1. It was loss that Mac refused to let affect him in a negative way. If anything, it served as inspiration.

“He never got to see one of my senior games, and I know he wanted to see one of those. Without him being able to be there, it helped me to play better, just because I knew he was able to watch every one of my games,” Mac said.

It’s a type of adversity McGill has had to overcome multiple times in his career, including when a Lumberton football player passed away prior to his sophomore season. McGill’s “heart,” as referred to by retired Pirates coach Mike Brill, along with strong academic performance and success in as both a football player and swimmer, are among the reasons he was chosen as February’s Mountaire Farms/Civitas Media Scholar-Athlete of the Month.

The program’s mission is to highlight male and female senior student-athletes within Robeson, Scotland and Bladen counties who carry a 3.0 GPA or higher. Nominees need to also be recognized by their coaches for outstanding sportsmanship and perform with superior ability in athletic competition.

Each monthly winner receives a $1,000 college scholarship and becomes eligible for an additional $1,500 in college funds that is awarded in June to the male and female scholar athletes of the year.

In the classroom, McGill is an accomplished student, having taken honors courses in varying subjects throughout his four years of high school, accumulating a 3.81 weighted grade point average in the process.

McGill said he didn’t enter high school wanting to take the honors courses, but was encouraged by his parents originally, and later his friends.

“With the senior class that I’ve been with, it was pretty much either take honors classes or be bored in school because all my friends took them,” he said.

It was encouragement he appreciates in retrospect.

“I’m actually glad they pushed me. There’s not much difference in taking honors classes and taking regular classes. The only difference is maybe a project or two.”

He’s also involved with the NC Scholar program and is members of both the Beta Club and the Chess Club.

On the field, his passion for athletics spans several generations. His father and grandfather both were athletes at the West Virginia University, and Sonny was passionate about football.

McGill has had plenty of success on the gridiron, earning All-County honorable mention his sophomore year. He became a full-fledged All-County recipient in both his junior and senior year. This year, he was also named a team captain, All-Conference, and was The Robesonian’s Defensive Player of the Year after recording over 100 tackles last season.

He’s also one of the top swimmers in the county, having picked up the sport to help rehab a shoulder injury his sophomore year. As a team captain, he’s specialized in freestyle events, swimming both the 50 and the 100 meter distances, and also swam the 200 meter individual medley and contributed to the 200 yard freestyle relay team’s success.

“If I wouldn’t have done sports, I wouldn’t know half the people at this school, as it is now,” he said, noting that when he picked up swimming, his relationships expanded even further. “It feels like the more evolved I was, the more people I was meeting, and I liked to get to know everybody better just through doing sports.”

When nominating McGill, Brill noted not only his linebacker’s athletic prowess, but his response in the hardship that came with losing his brother.

“Despite facing the death of his brother, despite walking on the field for recognition on senior night without his parents, and despite ending his high school football career with such a dark cloud of memories and emotion, this young man continued to perform in the classroom and on the field,” Brill said. “He maintained his grades and had one of his best games ever on senior night, as well as during his final home game against our county rivals.

“He led by example, showing his teammates first-hand the true meaning of dedication, ‘heart’, and how to overcome adversity. I couldn’t have been more proud, if he was my own son,” Brill said.

McGill said much of his strength through the experience has come from keeping a positive mindset.

“Without (Sonny) around, it’s different, but the way I think of it, I can’t let that overcome me. I will overcome it,” Mac said. “It’s not like he’s gone anywhere, because I know he’s just waiting for me. People come and go and it happens.

“I know I’ll see him again one day.”

McGill was enthusiastic as he received the trophy announcing him as the winner.

“It feels rewarding because I feel like we always get overlooked around here, being here in Robeson County and in Lumberton, and it feels like this is something that puts your name out there.” he said. “Everybody has dreams of going to Division I schools and being on TV and all that stuff, but I’d rather go somewhere where I’m going to play, and having even the smallest scholarships helps keep that dream possible.”

McGill’s top college choices include Allegheny College (Pa.), Alderson-Broaddus (W.V.) College and Methodist University in Fayetteville, and he’s also been offered a preferred walk-on spot at West Virginia.

He’s unsure of where he will sign or what he will study, but the date he signs is one with personal significance: Sonny’s birthday, March 18.

“I’ll give him one last gift, to be able to see me succeed in life, and I feel like that’s the most important part of me signing to where I’m going to start my career,” he said.
 

January 2013
Lucas McNeill of West Bladen High School
Dublin, NC


DUBLIN — Lucas McNeill has been faced with numerous challenges during his high-school career, primarily dealing with the usual academic obstacles but also an athletic career filled with injuries.

But the West Bladen High senior has met every one of those challenges the same way — with hard work and persistence.

That has garnered the attention of the Mountaire Farms Scholar-Athlete Award committee, which chose McNeill as the January winner from among student-athletes in Bladen, Robeson and Scotland counties. The award comes with a $1,000 scholarship and puts McNeill in the running for the Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award, which comes with an additional $1,500 in college funds that is awarded in June to the male and female scholar athletes of the year.

“Lucas is a really good kid, very light-hearted and good to be around,” said head basketball coach Travis Pait. “He has a real understanding that sports are a place to learn lessons. He wants to wins, don’t get me wrong, but he keeps it all in perspective.”

McNeill is currently carrying a 3.7865 weighted GPA and is ranked 37th among the 167 seniors in the Class of 2013.

His class schedule is filled with AP and honors classes, and he is now enrolled at Bladen Community College taking biology and psychology classes. He is planning to major in criminal justice when he attends college in the fall, and has his sights set on East Carolina University, the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and The University of North Carolina at Pembroke.

He is a member of the schools BETA Club, Spanish Club, Varsity Club, FCA and Dream Team.

“High school has allowed me to grow up a lot,” McNeill said. “And I think it’s helped prepare me for what I want to do in life.”
McNeill, who was the 2012 West Bladen Homecoming King, was recently named a Wendy’s Heisman Scholar-Athlete winner.

This past summer, McNeill was able to be involved with an air emissions research study through N.C. State University at his family’s farm, then traveled to the University of Delaware to gather information for a study on solar panels in poultry houses. In addition, McNeill worked as a lifeguard at the Woodman of the World pool in Robeson County.

McNeill’s athletic career for the Knights has been filled with football, basketball, soccer and baseball — but he’s been faced with injuries at nearly every turn.

He was an MVP safety and wide receiver on the football team as a sophomore, but sustained a broken wrist that could have sidelined him for six weeks. Instead, he was fitted with a cast and continued to play.

He has played baseball for the Knights since starting high school and was voted Most Improved as a sophomore. He also attended baseball camps at ECU and a summer showcase in Florida.

McNeill has also played basketball all four years at West Bladen, and is used primarily as the Knights’ sixth man this season. But he’s also had two injuries — a broken toe and a sprained ankle — that have limited his time on the floor. He has also attended two basketball camps at Campbell University.

On the soccer pitch, McNeill played his first-ever season as a senior and was voted co-captain for the Knights. He was a striker and goalie, and scored three goals.

“Lucas is a real hard worker,” Pait said. “Really the kind of kid you’d like to have a team full of. He’s very involved with his church and school community.”
According to Pait, while playing soccer McNeill was also in a Bladen County fall baseball league that played in Pembroke.

“He would practice with the soccer team, leave this practice to do conditioning for basketball, leave this practice and go to fall baseball practice,” Pait said. “And when he had out of town games for soccer, he would go into school at 6:45 to practice his basketball shots.”

McNeill is a member of New Marsh Baptist Church, where is a member of the choir. He spent his 16th birthday in El Salvador helping to build a new church. Prior to that, he helped with a youth sports camp in Canada and, last summer, he went to Fort Caswell to help pack food to send to Haiti.

December 2012
Joshua Sumner of Lumberton High School
Lumberton, NC

LUMBERTON — Lumberton High School senior Joshua Sumner is no stranger to adversity.

ACL surgery his sophomore year, hand surgery his junior year and a concussion this fall make up the laundry list of roadblocks Sumner, a three-year varsity football player at LHS, has found in his path.

Nevertheless, Sumner continued to stay the course whether he’s knocking helmets or hitting the books.

Ranked No. 9 in his class of 400 seniors with a 4.48 GPA, Sumner, a 221-pound left guard and long snapper for the Pirates, has earned the Mountaire/Heartland Scholar Athlete of the Month award for December.

The Mountaire/Heartland Scholar Athlete program’s mission is to highlight male and female senior student-athletes within Robeson, Scotland and Bladen counties who carry a 3.0 GPA or higher. Nominees need to also be recognized by their coaches for outstanding sportsmanship and perform with superior ability in athletic competition.

Each monthly winner receives a $1,000 college scholarship and becomes eligible for an additional $1,500 in college funds that is awarded in June to the male and female scholar athletes of the year.

“It’s very exciting,” Sumner said. “Just the hard work I’ve put in football over the years, and school, especially, it’s all paid off.”

Keeping his priorities straight has helped.

“It’s important to be focused on and off the field,” Sumner said. “But once school was over on Fridays, I knew it was time to focus on football.”

Mike Brill, who recently retired after six years as the Lumberton football head coach, has admired Sumner’s relentless work ethic on the gridiron and in the classroom.

“Though injuries kept knocking Joshua down, he has continued to get back up,” Brill said. “He manages to balance the high expectations I place upon all my players with respect to performance and leadership with the academic expectations of his teachers. Joshua is first and foremost a scholar athlete.”

This past season, Sumner and the Pirates rolled through their non-conference schedule to a 4-1 start before skidding to a 1-5 record the rest of the way, finishing 1-4 in the Southeastern Conference and falling in the first round of the state playoffs to Jack Britt.

Lumberton’s one league win, however, was one of Sumner’s most memorable games as a Pirate — a 42-18 rout of chief rival Purnell Swett at Lumberton’s Alton G. Brooks Stadium. The win snapped Lumberton’s three-year losing streak to the Rams in the Backyard Brawl.

“I was glad we beat Purnell, that was definitely the best part of this year,” Sumner said.

Now, with the football season in the rear-view, Sumner, who said he has a rigorous course schedule, still has plenty to keep busy inside the halls of Lumberton High. Sumner is a member of the National Honor Society, Beta Club, Science Olympiad Team and is a Teacher Cadet. On top of that, he was recently awarded the highest honor in Boy Scouts, Eagle Scout.

“Balancing everything out has been tough,” Sumner said. “But it’s going to help me a lot in college, balancing out my time and putting my priorities in place.”
Next fall, Sumner plans to major in pre-pharmacy at either Clemson University or Presbyterian College.
 

November 2012
Erica Tanner
West Bladen High School

DUBLIN — Erica Tanner has a clear set of values that she applies to everything she tackles: God, school, sports. And she has a family that fully supports those values.

Tanner, a senior at West Bladen High School, has applied those standards so well that she has been selected as The Mountaire Farms/Heartland Publications Scholar-Athlete of the Month for November. The monthly award is given to the top student-athlete from Bladen, Robeson and Scotland counties.

“Erica is one of the most determined athletes I have ever coached,” said West Bladen tennis coach Jeff Atkinson, who nominated Tanner for the award. “Erica is very committed to practice and is outworked by no one. She takes preparation seriously and understands this is a direct route to becoming a better player.”

During her senior tennis season, Tanner finished the regular season undefeated in singles with a 14-0 record, including 12-0 in the Waccamaw Conference. She also teamed with Lexi Storms as the Lady Knights’ No. 1 doubles team and took second place in the Waccamaw Conference Tournament before going 1-1 in the Class 2-A state tournament.

Tanner is also a key member of the West Bladen varsity softball team, and is one of the Lady Knights’ top pitchers.

“We’re blessed by Erica,” said her mother and father, Paula and Eric Tanner. “She has her priorities straight and works hard.”

That hard work isn’t saved for the athletic fields. Erica currently ranks No. 12 in her class of 167 students, and carries a 4.2135 grade point average.

“I’ve always been taught to give my best and work hard no matter what at everything I do,” Erica said. “And that’s what I try to do.”

Her course load hasn’t been filled with just the high-school minimums, either. She has been taking classes that include honors biology, honors English, honors geometry, honors algebra, honors pre-calculus, honors chemistry and advanced placement classes in biology, English, U.S. history and calculus.

Atkinson, who has coached Erica for the past three years, says she stands out in every way.

“She’s earned a reputation as a hard-working, trustworthy individual who strives to excel,” he said. “She understands the importance of team dynamics and team cohesion; she puts all her energy into action, not emotion.”

After graduation in June, Erica is planning to attend either Methodist or Peace College to pursue a degree in biology. While in college, she plans to play tennis competitively and, beyond college, she hopes to land a job as a physician’s assistant.

“I want to have a good balance between academics and athletics while in college, just like I have here (at West Bladen),” she said.

And though she has her sights set on becoming a physician’s assistant, Erica said she’s given a little thought to something else, as well.

“I might think about coaching,” she said. “But no matter what, I want to keep playing.”

October 2012
Kane Banner
St. Pauls High School


ST. PAULS — What defines an especially strong student-athlete is not lost on St. Pauls High School senior Kane Banner.

“You got to remember the first part — student,” Banner said Thursday on the St. Pauls football practice field.

The Bulldogs senior quarterback certainly hasn’t forgotten during his four years at St. Pauls High.

Touting a 4.7 weighted GPA, Banner is ranked No. 1 in his senior class and a member of numerous academic clubs, including the SGA, African American, Science and Math clubs.

“Our coaches always make sure that all of our grades are taken care of,” Banner said. “It’s really helpful that our coaches make us keep our grades up before we come on the field.”

He’s no slouch on that field, either.

As St. Pauls starter under center, Banner has amassed 26 total touchdowns — 17 passing and nine rushing — while helping lead the Bulldogs, who’ve racked up a county-best 470 points, to a 7-3 overall record and 2-2 Three Rivers Conference mark. Friday, Banner accounted for 332 yards and three touchdowns in St. Pauls’ 56-10 win at West Columbus.

Banner’s high marks on both ends of the student-athlete spectrum have earned him October’s Mountaire/Heartland Scholar Athlete of the Month Award.

The Mountaire/Heartland Scholar Athlete program’s mission is to highlight male and female senior student-athletes within Robeson, Scotland and Bladen counties who carry a 3.0 GPA or higher. Nominees need to also be recognized by their coaches for outstanding sportsmanship and perform with superior ability in athletic competition.

Each monthly winner receives a $1,000 college scholarship and becomes eligible for an additional $1,500 in college funds that is awarded in June to the male and female scholar athletes of the year.

“It helps a lot,” Banner said. “Right now, getting ready for college, everybody’s pushing me to get scholarships, so every little bit’s helping right now, and this ($1,000 scholarship) is going to help a tremendous amount.”

In the meantime, Banner, who along with football plays basketball in the winter and runs track in the spring, is looking to continue being a model student-athlete at St. Pauls.

“Kane is the definition of what a student-athlete should be,” said Travis Lemanski, who coaches JV football and varsity basketball and is a science teacher at St. Pauls. “He is extremely cerebral and a fierce competitor. He’s very mature, responsible and honest. His parents did a fine job raising him and molding him into the young man he is today.”

Banner, in fact, gives a lot of credit to his parents, Mike and Erica Setzer.

“My parents have always made sure my grades are always right or they won’t let me play (sports); they always push me,” Banner said. “It may be my last year ever playing football again. I don’t want to give it up without a fight. Every day, I’m giving everything I have.”

The Valedictorian-bound Banner is hoping that gusto will translate to an admission into an Ivy League school next fall. He plans to study pre-med in college.

“I want to be a cardiac surgeon when I grow up,” Banner said. “All of my teachers, my guidance counselors, my brothers, my sisters, my cousins, everybody is telling me to keep my head in school — that school is going to take me farther in life than anything else.”

 

Sept. 2012
Zach Leach
Red Springs High School

RED SPRINGS — Red Springs High School senior Zach Leach is all over the county football stat-leaderboard.

The Red Devils wideout ranks first in the county in catches (36) and touchdown receptions (9) and second — to teammate JuJu Brown — in receiving yards with 541.

Perhaps his most notable stat as a student-athlete, however, is his No. 9-rank in the Red Springs senior class with a 4.19 weighted GPA.

The Red Springs senior’s efficiency when hitting the field and the books earned him September’s Mountaire/Heartland Scholar Athlete of the Month award, kicking off the new and improved program that now awards each monthly winner a $1,000 college scholarship. Each monthly winner also becomes eligible for an additional $1,500 college funds that is awarded to the male and female scholar athletes of the year.

“It means everything to me,” Leach said in regards to being a successful student-athlete. Along with playing football, basketball and baseball, he is also a Junior Marshall and member of the school’s choir. “Basically, the key is not being lazy. Doing your work in school and putting in your work on the field.”

The Mountaire/Heartland Athlete of the Month program’s mission is to highlight male and female senior student-athletes within Robeson, Scotland and Bladen counties who carry a 3.0 GPA or higher. Nominees need to also be recognized by their coaches for outstanding sportsmanship and perform with superior ability in athletic competition.

For George Coltharp, the second-year Red Springs football coach and athletic director, nominating Leach was a no-brainer.

“First and foremost, he’s just a great kid, his character is unimpeachable," Coltharp said.

Along with his best friend since middle school and teammate Zach Jones — “he’s helped me not procrastinate” — Leach accredited Coltharp for helping shape him into the standout receiver and student-athlete he’s become.

“He’s really helped me actually see the talent that I have,” Leach said. “I didn’t really start doing anything in high school football until my junior year, and that was the first year he came. He kind of gave me a chance to shine.”

It didn’t take long for Coltharp to see the potential.

“He’s a kid who’s just got extraordinary quickness,” Coltharp said. “He’s not a big kid — he’s maybe 5-6 … 150, 160 pounds — but has good leaping ability and works hard in the weight room.

“We think we highlight what he does well, we get the ball to him quickly in space and let him make moves and he does what he does.”

Leach has been doing loads of that this fall, opening the season with a six-catch, 123-yard, three-touchdown showing in Red Springs’ 67-27 rout of West Bladen. Most recently, Leach hauled in a 17-yard touchdown to help the Red Devils run away from rival St. Pauls in a Three Rivers Conference opener.

With performances like that, along with top-notch grades, Leach is considering an athletic career at the college-level, with The University of North Carolina at Pembroke and East Carolina as his two schools of choice thus far.

“Really, I never thought I’d be in this position. It’s been kind of eye-opening,” said Leach. “I’m really trying to go to East Carolina. If I go there without a scholarship, I’m going to walk on to see if I can get a shot.” 

Haskins, Oxendine Named Scholar Athletes of the Year

LUMBERTON — Two choice quotes were plucked by Roger Marino, the Community Relations Director of Mountaire Farms, and relayed to the attendees at The Robesonian/Mountaire Farms Scholar Athlete of the Year awards banquet, held Wednesday at the Holiday Inn in Lumberton. The event recognized the 10 athlete of the month recipients and announced the male and female scholar athletes of the year.

Marino quoted words of wisdom previously delivered by a pair of county student-athletes — Lumberton High School’s Connor Haskins and Red Springs High School’s Chelsi Oxendine.

“You listen to the title (scholar-athlete) and you hear scholar first,” Haskins said a month ago on being May’s AOTM honoree. “So first of all, it’s about getting your classroom work done, taking care of your grades. I try to focus as much as I can on getting the classroom stuff done so I can participate in athletics.”

Oxendine uttered a similar grades-before-play sentiment as December’s AOTM winner.

“Being a scholar athlete means that I work hard and play hard and stay focused,” she said. “My parents, they always said academics will get you somewhere … sports might.”

Both made sure to stick true to their mantras this year.

In doing so, Haskins and Oxendine were named the scholar athletes of the 2011-12 school year. Each received a crystallized trophy and a college scholarship check from Mountaire worth $1,500.

Haskins maintained a 4.2 weighted GPA while excelling in football, swimming, men’s tennis and golf. He will attend The University of North Carolina at Pembroke — the all-county kicker signed to UNCP’s football team — and is considering majoring in political sciences.

Oxendine, a three-sport standout in volleyball, basketball and softball, carried a 4.36 weight GPA this school year, earning her Red Springs’ Valedictorian honor. What’s more, her achievements on and off the field came while gritting through a torn ACL she suffered during the basketball season. Oxendine will attend North Carolina State University in the fall and major in veterinarian medicine.

Hughes speaks on leadership

Wednesday’s banquet featured motivational speaker Benny T. Hughes, a 28-year Air Force veteran and author of the book “Leadership … Put a CAP on It!”

Hughes broke down the term ‘CAP’ into three variables — Communication, Attitude and Performance — in describing what it takes to be a successful leader.

“Anything that fails, you can go back and examine those three things,” Hughes said.

“You can take CAP and immediately improve your professional and personal life.”

Hughes appeared genuinely floored by the decorated resumes — athletically and academically — of Robeson County’s scholar athlete of the month honorees, who include: Lumberton’s Anderson Branch, Michael Bailey, Jaynell Brown and Connor Haskins; Purnell Swett’s Erin Kenworthy, Tyler Baker, Laura Bird and Moira Dial; Red Springs’ Chelsi Oxendine; and St. Pauls’ Khadijah Priest.

“You’d have to multiply my GPA by three to get to your guys’ average,” Hughes said. “And I couldn’t play a radio without getting sacked … .”

Collectively, the group of AOTM winners held a GPA over 4.0 and accounted for nearly 20 all-conference selections.

 

2010-2011 Robesonian/Mountaire Scholar Athlete(s) of the Year

LUMBERTON — One put achieving the scholar-athlete of the year award on her to do list, the other is pleased to receive the honor and hopes the next group can surpass his achievements.

And now Callie Davis and Dominique Ashe call themselves the first winners of the Robesonian/Mountaire Farms Scholar Athlete of the Year award.

Davis, a three-sport athlete at Lumberton, received the initial scholar athlete of the month honor in September, while South Robeson’s Ashe was tapped for his selection in October.

A good deal has occurred since Davis and Ashe garnered their honors.

Davis was picked to the all-Southeastern Conference soccer team as well as the all-region squad. As a cross country runner, Davis finished in the top five at the all-county meet all four years.

“It’s great to be picked to win this,” Davis said. “It’s great to represent my school and a great way to wrap up by high school sporting career.”

Ashe participated in football, basketball and ran track for the Mustangs this year. On the gridiron, Ashe was one of the county’s top linebackers and was named to the all-county team after totaling 114 tackles. In addition, he was tapped for the all-Three Rivers Conference squad.

“It’s a great accomplishment,” Ashe said. “It shows all my hard work didn’t go to waste. It really gives me a feeling of accomplishment.”

The pair have made their decisions on their educational futures. Davis will attend Meredith College in Raleigh and will run cross country for the Avenging Angels. Ashe was set to head to Buies Creek and play football at Campbell, but has since changed his mind. Now, Ashe will become a pioneer and will help UNC Charlotte begin its football program.

Both received the news they were going to the yearly winners before school year was completed. Davis shared her information with her parents, while Ashe told some of his fellow classmates to inspire them to hit the books like he did.

“My parents thought I was very deserving of the award,” Davis said. “They are very proud. It showed all of my hard work paid off. I wasn’t sure I was going to win it because there were a lot of great scholar-athletes that came after me.”

“I told everybody I was playing basketball with,” Ashe said. “They were proud because some of them are my closest friends. I hope that they work harder than I did. I would like the next winner to also come from South Robeson and have a 4.0 while playing multiple sports. I’ll like to see them go beyond what I did.”

Ashe and his family traveled to the awards banquet hosted by Mountaire Farms in Georgetown, Del. earlier this month, but Davis was unable to attend because of a prior commitment at her church that weekend.

Ashe was able to match his accomplishments with the monthly winners from the Maryland, Delaware and Virginia areas along the coast, also known as Delmarva. He was impressed he was he able to be grouped in with them.

“To be honest, I felt a little humble, but I felt good,” Ashe said. “It let me know I could hang with them, but I wish I worked harder than I did.”

Beginning in the fall, each month, the Robesonian/Mountaire Farms Scholar Athlete will receive an engraved, crystal trophy and recognizing him/her as the monthly honoree. Honorees will also be highlighted in Mountaire Farms quarterly newsletter.
 

2010-2011 Robesonian/Mountaire Scholar Athlete(s) of the Month

During the 2010-2011 schoolar year, The Robesonian and Mountaire Farms highlighted outstanding student athletes in the Lumberton, NC area with the Robesonian/Mountaire Scholar Athlete of the Month Award.  Each month, the Robesonian/Mountaire Farms Scholar Athlete will received an engraved crystal trophy recognizing him/her as the monthly honoree and all honorees were featured in the Robesonian Newspaper and online.

Each monthly Robesonian/Mountaire Farms Scholar Athlete was also eligible to receive one of two The Robesonian/Mountaire Farms $1,000 college scholarships, which were awarded to one male and one female athlete. Those winners were named the “Robesonian/Mountaire Farms Scholar Athletes of the Year.” 

Monthly Winners:
September - Callie Davis of Lumberton High School
October - Dominique Ashe of South Robeson High School
November - Damilia Brooks of Lumberton High School
December - Steven Kirby of Lumberton High School
January - Brianna Chavis of Purnell Swett High School
February - Andrew Fanning of Lumberton High School
March - Julia Dent of Lumberton High School
April - Payton Locklear of St. Pauls High School