The Clarksdale High School class of 1985 is continuing to honor classmate Mary Catherine Broom.
The class created a fundraiser to give five graduating seniors $5,000 in her memory and did so this week.
Students with a C average or better who overcome a lot of obstacles and continue to perform write an essay about why they deserve a scholarship and what perseverance they had to overcome during their high school years.
The drop dead date for this year’s essay is a month prior to graduation.
The class of 1985 got things going with activities for the current Clarksdale High School senior class during homecoming weekend. The class of 1985 provided the class of 2022 with lunch.
“In the midst of COVID, we wanted to have something to commemorate our memorial scholarship weekend, which is an event that we’re trying to turn into an on-calendar holiday for the city,” said Clarksdale High School class of 1985 graduate Marvin Reddick. “It commemorates the fallen classmates of the class of ’85 and also gives scholarships to deserving students in each class. Last year, we were able to give out five $1,000 scholarships to the class of 2021. We’re looking to double that for the class of 2022. So this year, in the midst of COVID, we decided probably the safest thing to do was just to have a senior lunch, which we did. The seniors were allowed to come in, in small numbers in observance of COVID and social distancing. We combined that with a career day.”
Coahoma Community College provided season tickets for football, Jackson State University was present, ROTC military contingency was there to talk about careers and voter registration for almost 150 students took place.
There was some pre-registration and some voters were already 18.
“That was a good thing for us and we just want to let them know that we are thinking about them and thinking about their future,” Reddick said. “We also passed out the scholarship applications for our memorial scholarship fund during the event also.”
Stanley Clark, a 1985 Clarksdale High School graduate, felt things went well.
“I thought it was wonderful,” Clark said. “My favorite thing the students participated and also some of the teachers and faculty did. We had other classmates that traveled from afar and came and joined us. It was a good turnout. I’m looking forward to increasing our scholarship fund.”
The Mission Statement of Clarksdale Municipal School District is:
“The Clarksdale Municipal School District will provide innovative and quality educational programs that focus on the individual development of every student.
District Goals are:
Goal 1: Student achievement will increase each year.
Goal 2: There will be a safe and orderly school climate in every school.
Goal 3: An increasing number of students will experience a positive K-12 education.
Goal 4: The School District will maintain a sound financial fund balance.
