AGG Director Manny Joanos and I had the good fortune to personally commend thirteen of Godby High School's top twenty academically performing seniors at the Godby Media Center on Wednesday evening, February 22. The other students were at a conference, but more than forty of us including families ate dinner together, and Darius Jones officially opened the AGG scholarship application season, which ends on Friday, April 6, 2012.
In 2011, the AGG awarded scholarship money to every qualified applicant. This year, we announced that we are restructuring the awards to include specific denomination scholarships, and encouraged the students to apply soon.
I welcomed the students and explained the Association of Godby Graduates' origin, and mission to foster, recognize and reward excellent service and academic achievement, and told them that they are the reason that the AGG exists, and that we are very proud of them.
I said that they are Godby's 43rd graduating class, which means that most alumni are still around, and many of us stay active not only with each other, but also with the school's staff and students. I talked about the AGG's events and fundraisers, including the upcoming Hall of Fame banquet, and the alumni cruises we take that contribute to the scholarship fund.
I announced that Darius would be one of our 2012 AGG Hall of Fame inductees in the Media Center on March 30, and encouraged them to attend, as well as to join us at the Springtime Tallahassee Parade the next morning after the banquet.
I told the students that is not too early to join us on Facebook, where we now have more than a thousand members. Within hours, a few had joined us.
As in previous years, I was impressed by the appreciation and and respect the students and their families showed us. I had met some at the Godby Soup Kitchen in December, and said that I would look forward to seeing them again at Senior Awards Night in May.
These students are Godby's best in 2012, and we congratulate them and wish them every success.
