Donley County Social Hour 7
On the big screen
Donley graduates’ awards total $373k
Donley County high school graduates for 2020 received $373,414 to further their education, according to announcements made by Clarendon and Hedley high schools during commencement exercises last weekend.
Clarendon High School seniors are eligible for or have received $371,414, and the total for Hedley seniors is $3,000.
CHS held its commencement at the Sandell Drive-In Friday, May 22. Each graduate was recognized for their individual awards and scholarships as well as the number of dual credit hours they had earned through Clarendon College. Not all scholarships mentioned will be used due to the student’s choice of schools.
Regan Rene Allen earned six dual credit hours.
Joseph Matthew Boyd II earned six dual credit hours and received a PEAK Scholarship worth $750 per semester at Clarendon College.
Bryce Tanner Burch earned 19 dual credit hours and received a PEAK Scholarship of $750 per semester at Clarendon College, Bill Talley Memorial Scholarship for $1000, and the Homer Estlack Scholarship to Clarendon College for $250.
Nyjamal Tynerick Butler-Evans was honored with the Fighting Heart Award and a Wayland Baptist University Athletic Scholarship.
Victoria Grace Cranford earned six dual credit hours and received a PEAK Scholarship of $750 per semester.
Mattee Mae Johnson earned 45 dual credit hours, was named the Girl Athlete of the Year and received a $12,000 Oklahoma Baptist Trustees Academic Scholarship, a $6,500 WTAMU Academic Scholarship, a $16,000 HSU Presidents Scholarship, a $19,100 HSU Academic Scholarship, and a Lions Club Sweetheart Scholarship of $500.
Harmond Kaase Drenth earned 63 dual credit hours and Associate’s Degree from Clarendon College received a University Scholastic League Scholar Award, the Knorpp Valedictory Scholarship, the State of Texas Valedictorian Tuition Waiver, a $1500 Ron Hudson Memorial Scholarship of the Pioneer Gun Collectors Association, a Texas Valedictorian Scholarship which pays one year tuition, a Baylor University financial aid package which totals $198,264 over the next four years, and the Baylor ECS Scholar of $7,500 per year.
Trenton Andrew Smith graduated with 74 dual credit hours and an Associate’s Degree from Clarendon College and received a University Interscholastic League Scholar Award, the Knorpp Salutatorian Scholarship, the Knorpp Cup Award, a Herring Bank Scholarship for $300, a Jack Roach Scholarship for $2000, a Les Beaux Arts Club Scholarship of $500, a Kenady-Lee Scholarship to WTAMU for $2,000, a T Boone Pickens Academic Excellence Scholarship to WTAMU of $2000, a Smith Family Scholarship of $10,000, and $64,000 to Baylor University.
Schkiria Kameel Weatherton earned 39 dual credit hours and received a University Interscholastic League Scholar Award, a Lions Club Sweetheart Scholarship of $500, an FCA Scholarship worth an unknown amount at this time, a Wayland Baptist Pioneer Scholarship of $22,000, and a Wayland Baptist Cheerleading Scholarship of $2,000.
Henry Logan Dushay earned 12 dual credit hours.
Madisen Paige Gay earned 27 dual credit hours and received a PEAK Scholarship worth $750 per semester at Clarendon College, a Cross Roads Peanut Scholarship of $500, and a Clarendon College Athletic Scholarship.
Samara Ann Christine Johnson earned 18 dual credit hours.
Maritza Guadalupe Mercado-Vazquez earned eight dual credit hours.
Jaden Spence Monds earned 59 dual credit hours.
Kenneth William Overstreet earned eight dual credit hours.
Braylee Danielle Shields earned six dual credit hours.
Hedley High School held its graduation Saturday night at the Sandell after a threatening storm blew over town.
School officials recognized Collin Monroe, Perla Carreon, and Mica Alvey for achievements in service and academics and Monroe for having completed up to 20 hours of duel credit course with Clarendon College. Carreon and Alvey were also recognized for earning more than 20 hours of dual credit.
Erykah Martinez received the Hedley Lioness club scholarship for $300
Collin Monroe received the Roper T. Copelin Memorial Scholarship for $500 and the Lila Kate and Kylie Allison Monroe Scholarship for $300.
Mica Alvey received a Cross Road Peanut Company scholarship for $500, a Herring Bank graduate award for $300, a Herring Bank scholarship for Clarendon College for $500, and the Lila Kate and Kylie Allison Monroe Scholarship for $300.
Perla Carreon received the University Interscholastic League Scholar Award and the Donley County Retired School Personnel Scholarship for $300. Perla has been named as the 2020 Highest Ranking High School Graduate of Hedley ISD. This award will exempt Perla form tuition fees for her first year of college.
Both Clarendon and Hedley school officials expressed their thanks to John and Tammi Morrow for making the Sandell Drive-In available to hold graduation exercises during this time of social distancing.
CC receives $930k from CARES Act
Clarendon College is receiving $929,717 from the CARES Act for expenses related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Interim President Tex Buckhaults reported the funding to the Board of Regents during their regular meeting last Thursday.
CC has been approved for the funding in three parts, he said. The first is $442,844 for students, and CC has identified 362 students who are eligible for the funding. The college is working to contact all of those individuals so they can apply before the deadline at the end of this month. CC will then begin awarding the funds in the first two weeks of June.
The second part of funding is institutional, Buckhaults said, and totals $442,843. Of that CC has already tapped about $157,000 for dorm and meal plan refunds for the spring semester. The college also plans to use part of that funding for scheduling software to reduce the need for students to stand in line for registration and financial aid, improved wifi capabilities, an improved text messaging system, and other expenses.
The third part totals $44,030 and can be used for “strengthening the institution.” Buckhaults told the Enterprise that money has not been designated for a specific purpose yet.
The college’s financial aid office also applied for and received about $10,000 in emergency funding for students personally adversely affected by the pandemic. About 18 students have been identified by the college as eligible for that funding but those funds cannot be dispersed until the financial aid director receives proper training on the program by the state.
No new reports of COVID-19 cases
Clarendon Family Medical Center has reported no new cases of the COVID-19 viruses as of Tuesday morning this week.
CFMC says they have performed a total of 107 tests on local residents. All of those test results have been reported now with 87 negative for the virus and 20 positive cases, all of which have recovered.
Additionally, six cases have previously tested positive at facilities outside the county. The overall count of total positives in Donley County stands at 26.
Buckhaults lone finalist to lead CC
Clarendon College Regents named Interim President Texas D. Buckhaults as the lone finalist for the college’s top job during their regular meeting last Thursday, May 21.
Board Chairman Tommy Waldrop said at the meeting that the college must now wait 21 days under state law before hiring Buckhaults officially as president. Waldrop said regents could meet in closed session next month to “hash out” any questions and details of a contract.
Buckhaults told the Enterprise the 21 days is considered a “cooling off” period by the state and allows time for community members and faculty to raise any questions or concerns about the appointment.
Regents originally named Buckhaults as “part time interim president” on November 27 and then met again on December 9 to name him the “full time interim president.”
According to a statement on the college website, Buckhaults has been with CC for 21 years and has served in the following positions: Vice President of Academic Affairs, Executive Vice President of Academic & Student Affairs, Vice President of Student Services, SACSCOC Accreditation Liaison, Director of Institutional Research and Title III, and various other positions.
Mr. Buckhaults holds a Master’s of Education from West Texas A&M University and a Bachelor’s of Science from West Texas State University.
The statement says the new president is expected to assume office July 1.
In other college business last week, Regents accepted a proposal for $16,975 for landscaping work on the Pampa campus to be reimbursed by the Clarendon College Pampa Foundation.
The board accepted the administration’s recommendation to renew nine-month and 12-month faculty rehires as follows: Nine-month positions – Candace Abrams, Dale Askew, Melvin Balogh, Edward Caraway, Bruno Castel, Tye Chesser, Joseph Davis, Russell Estlack, Scarlet Estlack, Kim Jeffrey, Kelly McDonough, Devin McIntosh, Ken McIntosh, Andy McLatchy, Mark James, Deb O’Neal, Linda Rowland, Laura Paul, Jeremy Sain, Robert Taylor, Johnny Treichel, and Frank Vance; and 12-month positions – Jay Anders, Missie Bradford, Ken Carlile, David Carr, Jana Coats, Sherrie Denham, Rodney Donahue, Alicia Hunter, Jamie Mears, Alyssa Oates, Mandy Poole Guerrero, Decee Surratt, and Tommie Ray.
In other personnel moves, the board ratified the hiring of Hunter Jenkins as the head men’s basketball coach and former Lady Bulldog Aleiyah Bantley as the assistant women’s basketball coach; accepted the resignations of Joseph Mulder, Isaac Fontenot-Amedee, and Pamela Hill; acknowledged the retirements of Charla Crump and Martha Smith; and let expire the contract of assistant women’s volleyball coach LaDerrianne Golden.
Among several items in his report to the board, Buckhaults updated the regents on the SACSCOC site visit, which has been postponed to June 23, and said the college currently has a projected fall occupancy in the dorm of 230 students at this point although recruitment is still ongoing. He said CC is watching Navarro College, which plans to reopen its dorms in July to see what safety measures they take amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
CC exempted from state spending reduction
Clarendon College was exempted from state funding cuts last week when top Texas officials told agencies to find ways to slash spending.
Gov. Greg Abbott, Lieutenant Gov. Dan Patrick, and House Speaker Dennis Bonnen last Wednesday sent a letter directing state agencies and institutions of higher education to each submit a plan identifying savings that will reduce respective general and general revenue related appropriations by five percent for the 2020-2021 biennium.
The letter specifically exempted the state’s 50 community colleges, which effectively preserved about $135,000 in state funds for Clarendon College, according to Interim President Tex Buckhaults.
“The state comptroller had previously said the budget was safe through December, but then we began hearing that we could see a cut between five and 25 percent,” Buckhaults told the Enterprise.
Officials at CC and other community colleges were relieved when the governor’s letter exempted them along with several other agencies.
In the letter, the state leaders also urge state agencies and institutions of higher education to pursue cost-saving strategies that will not affect the state’s response to COVID-19 such as forgoing capital expenditures that can be deferred, any avoidable travel expenditures, any administrative expenses that are not mission critical, and keeping unfilled any open positions that are not essential to Texas’ COVID-19 response.
“As Texans recover from this pandemic, it is incumbent that state government continues to maintain mission critical services without placing a greater burden on taxpayers,” reads the letter. “We are confident that Texas will get back to work and continue leading the nation in job growth, economic innovation, and business creation. However, it will take months until we know the true extent of the economic ramifications of COVID-19, and how combating this virus will impact state finances. To prepare for this economic shock, we must take action today to ensure that the state can continue providing the essential government services that Texans expect.”
Along with community colleges, the following agencies and functions were exempted from the budget tightening in light of the importance of the state’s response to COVID-19 and the continuity of critical government functions:
Appropriations to the Texas Division of Emergency Management, the Texas Department of State Health Services, the Texas Workforce Commission, the Texas Military Department; and the Texas Department of Public Safety;
Funding for debt service requirements and bond authorizations;
Current law requirements for the Foundation School Program and school safety; Funding for Child Protective Services;
Benefits and eligibility levels in Medicaid programs, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, the foster care program, the adoption subsidies program, the permanency care assistance program, and services for individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities;
Funding for behavioral health service programs;
Appropriations for Correctional Security Operations and Correctional Managed Health Care at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice;
Appropriations to Health Related Institutions; and
Employer Contributions to the Teacher Retirement System and Employees Retirement System funds and to Social Security.
2020 garage sale event sign-up underway
The sign-up period for Clarendon’s 15th annual “Trash To Treasures” garage sale event is underway through May 29 at 5 p.m.
A wide participation is expected again for this year’s sale, which is slated for Saturday, June 6. Garage sales in Hedley, Howardwick, and the surrounding area are also welcome to sign up for the big day.
Residents who wish to participate in this year’s “Trash To Treasures” are asked to come by the Enterprise before 5 p.m. on Friday, May 29, to sign up for the promotion.
For just $25, each household will get a 50-word advertisement in the Big-E Classifieds and the exclusive “Trash To Treasures” garage sale signs. In addition, the Enterprise will print a city map the week of the event indicating the location of each sale and will promote the citywide garage sale in area newspapers and with local radio ads.
For more information, call 874-2259 or come by the Enterprise.
Donley County Social Hour 6
Two CHS seniors earn college degrees
By Elizabeth Zongker
Harmond Drenth and Trenton Smith, members of the Clarendon High School Class of 2020, received their Associate’s in Science degrees from Clarendon College on May 8, meaning these gentlemen graduated from college before high school.
The majority of their college work was completed for free thanks to the Dual Credit Peak Scholarship, which is an agreement between Clarendon College and Clarendon CISD.
Harmond and Trenton made history by being the first CHS students to complete their high school and associate requirements at the same time.
Harmond and Trenton began this college course work while on CISD campus back in the Fall of 2018. Harmond completed 62 hours at CC and plans on attending Baylor University in the fall with a major in Computer Science.
Harmond said his degree at Clarendon College will allow him to directly go to upper level course work when he arrives in Waco in August.
“My most challenge course in college so far has to be Interpersonal Communication,” Harm said.
Trenton worked hard during the school year and summer terms to graduate from Clarendon College with a total of 77 hours. Trent plans to attend WTAMU and obtain his degree in Business Management.
“By completing my associates degree, I feel a sense of being stress free heading into WTAMU,” Trenton stated.
Like Harmond, Trenton found a certain college class, Elementary Statistics, to be hard.
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