Editorial contact: Randy Weiler, 615-898-2919
Office of Development contact: Kippy Todd, 615-898-5756
(MURFREESBORO) — Warren County High School senior Crystal Clayton says the “key to my success is using my bad experiences as stepping stones for the future. … Nothing will stop my pursuit of happiness, which is making a positive change in the hearts of children.”
Clayton’s “stepping stones” and “pursuit of happiness” were given a lift April 10 when the McMinnville resident received the $10,000 Ray Danner Scholarship during the ninth annual Neill-Sandler Strive for Excellence Banquet at MTSU’s Tennessee Miller Coliseum Miller Room.
Clayton said her goal is to become a clinical licensed counselor with an emphasis on children. She demonstrates her desire to help children through volunteer efforts with programs like the Kids of the Community project, the Structured Athletics for Challenged Children and Bobby Ray Elementary Star program.
The young woman has been a part of many Warren County High, community and church activities, and already enjoyed a taste of the university by being a two-year member of the MTSU Educational Talent Search group.
Jessica Berry of DeKalb County High School in Smithville was honored with the $7,500 Elizabeth and Sidney A. McPhee Scholarship. Since the start of her freshman year, Berry has endured the divorce of her parents, her mother’s three-year struggle with brain cancer that ended in her death two weeks after Mother’s Day 2006, living alone, working and paying her bills, and rebuilding a relationship with her father.
“I am going to succeed at all of my goals, no matter what I have to do to accomplish them,” she wrote in her essay when applying for a Neill-Sandler scholarship. “I love and miss my Mom terribly, but I know she wants me to succeed, also.”
Recipients of one-time $5,000 Neill-Sandler Scholars at MTSU grants included Kyle Chompooming of Franklin County High School in Winchester; India Clark of Lebanon High School; Chris Ehemann of Tullahoma High School; Lauren Grooms of
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Smyrna High School; Chad Howse of Cannon County High School in Woodbury; Melissa McClenney of Shelbyville Central High School; Brittany Nelson of Independence High School in Franklin; and Tosha Stoutenburg of Coffee County Central High School in Manchester.
Each of the students had compelling stories shared in comments by Murfreesboro businessman Mike Sandler of the Neill-Sandler Foundation and in a video presentation by John Lynch and graduate student Seth Alder from the Office of News and Public Affairs.
Scholarships are provided through the Neill-Sandler Foundation and The Danner Company, a Nashville-based business led by Chairman Ray Danner. When this group arrives on campus in the fall, it will mean 95 recipients have benefited since 1999, said Kippy Todd, assistant director for annual giving and donor relations in the Office of Development.
The efforts of Sandler, Danner, businessman Gary Neill of Knoxville and others have helped maintain the scholarship program. Neill, Sandler and Randy Morton of the Neill-Sandler Foundation initiated the program in 1999. An annual Danner Invitational Golf Tournament, held in early October at Hermitage Golf Course in Nashville, helps fund the scholarships. Call 615-604-7171 for tournament inquiries.
For more information about the program, visit mtsu.edu/~devofc/neill-sandler. For information about other scholarships or admission to MTSU, call the admissions office at 615-898-2111 or visit mtsu.edu/~admissn/.
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Note: High-resolution photos of the scholarship recipients are available by calling Randy Weiler in the Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-2919. To schedule an interview with the student(s) from your area, please contact their school’s principal or guidance counselor.
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