Published 6:15 pm Monday, April 21, 2025
By Lanell Downs Smith
The Lowndes County Children’s Policy Council began its process to select 2025 recipients for Sheriff John Williams Memorial Scholarship awards at its April 9 meeting. The council received applications from seniors at all three Lowndes County high schools and will award five, potentially six awards at $2,000 each.
“One student received a scholarship last year and did not go to college,” said CPC Chairman, Lowndes County District Judge Adrian Johnson. “So, we have one extra scholarship if we want to consider giving six. We have $10,000 to award five, but we do have the possibility to award one more with the return of [last year’s unused award].”
The council received applications from 21 seniors from The Calhoun School, Central High School in Hayneville and Lowndes Academy. Council members reviewed every application during the meeting, considering each applicant’s college and career aspirations, grade point average, ACT scores, extracurricular activity involvement and recommendations along with answers to an essay question inquiring about the student’s character qualities they feel are similar to those espoused by the late Sheriff John “Big John” Williams.
Students at Central wrote complete essays to accompany their applications, Johnson explained.
“They have some outstanding essays,” Johnson said. “These kids really put a lot of time into their essays. A lot of them are too young to remember Big John when he was alive, and several of them mentioned that, but they have had the opportunity to talk with people in the community about him and what he stood for.”
While the council does consider each candidate’s academic record, Johnson did emphasize that the scholarship has the potential to help some students who may not receive other awards.
“One aspect of the application I really like is [we ask them] to briefly explain any particular hardships or challenges they have overcome,” Johnson said. “When we developed the scholarship, we knew John had overcome a lot of obstacles in his life, and we wanted to have an opportunity to emphasize to young people what overcame their situation. That’s not to say that we aren’t looking at the best and the brightest. But the purpose of this scholarship is to create opportunities for the kids who are not necessarily at the top of their class, but who are still doing well.”
After considering all applications, the council adjourned to further review the information. Members will indicate their top three choices from each school, and the council hopes to award two recipients from each high school.
The next Children’s Policy Council meeting is set for June 4 at 3 p.m.
