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SARAH CAVACINI/Palatka Daily News – Crescent City Junior-Senior High School student Emme Delaney, center, stands with Superintendent Rick Surrency, left, and presenter Douglas Webb after receiving the Robert W. Webb Award of Excellence during Tuesday’s Top Scholar Awards Ceremony.
Putnam County School District officials celebrated 115 dedicated students and their accomplishments Tuesday at the Top Scholar Awards Ceremony in Palatka.
Students from Crescent City, Interlachen Palatka and Q.I. Roberts junior-senior high schools as well as Putnam Virtual School received accolades for being in the top 10% of their class, maintaining a 4.0 weighted GPA, being leaders in their schools or communities, having exceptional volunteer hours and being active in school activities.
Guest speaker Thomas Hunter, a Palatka South High School graduate in 1961, urged students to choose a career that would satisfy their lives and dreams so they wouldn’t have regrets.
“You’ve been very successful to this point,” Hunter said. There’s no reason, no reason at all, why you won’t be successful going forward. … Embrace what there is in life and find the meaning there for you.”
One student stood out among the rest during the ceremony. Crescent City senior Emme Delaney won the Robert W. Webb Award of Excellence, named for Bob Webb, a community leader who was the former sponsor and host of the district’s Top 50 Scholars program.
Superintendent Rick Surrency said Webb valued education and exemplified character and community involvement excellence, which is why Delaney is this year’s recipient.
“(Delaney) served over 400 community service hours while excelling on local athletic teams,” Surrency said. “(She) served as the president of both the National Honor Society and the Interact Club, as well as serving as a chief science officer, student council member and a member of the Superintendent Student Advisory Council.”
Delany has been a member of the varsity softball team, varsity cheerleading team and the weightlifting team, according to her school biography. She led Tuesday’s audience in an invocation and is a member of South Putnam Church, where she has served as a Sunday school worker.
Delaney, who has already earned her Cambridge Advanced International Certificate of Education diploma, plans to attend Florida State University and dual major in civil and environmental engineering.
While some students may have things figured out already, Hunter said he wasn’t immediately sure what career he wanted to pursue after high school.
His post-high school journey led him to obtain a bachelor’s and master’s degree in mechanical engineering as well as a second master’s degree and a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering, he said.
Hunter retired in 2010 as the president and director of Sandia National Laboratories, a multi-program laboratory operated by the Sandia Corp. The corporation runs science and technology labs for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration.
He retired in Putnam, where he serves numerous community organizations and is a member of the school district’s Bond Oversight Committee, which was formed to track how the new obligation bond funds are being spent to build and renovate Putnam schools.
He advised students that figuring out their views, goals, passions and their futures might take a little while. But he encouraged them to blaze a trail and not be afraid of failure.
“It’s important you take a little time to figure out who you are, students,” Hunter told the award recipients. “... Don’t be afraid to take a little risk. If you fail, move forward. Life offers many adventures.”
