Alan Gray Scholarship Award Winner 2018 : Allie Raven Gillentine

Name of your high school: Nettleton High School

Where do you plan to go to college? : Itawamba Community College and then to Ms State University

What is your major?: Art Therapy

Tell us how the scholarship will achieve your goals. : If awarded this scholarship, it would truly help with the financial burden of attending college and ultimately helping me achieve my goals to becoming an art therapist. As a student with severe dyslexia, I am not eligible for most academic based scholarships, but what I want you to know (and wish everyone knew) is that I have overcame obstacles my entire life and have continued to persevere and thrive in regular classes despite my reading disability. It was my dream to graduate high school alongside my peers, and in May 2018 I will accomplish that dream. Thank you for considering me for this award.

Anything else you would like to add? : My mother has been a 911 dispatcher and an APCO member for many years. She has devoted her life to helping others… the callers who are desperate for help… the medics, the police, and the fire personnel who depend on her daily… and most of all me. Now, with your help, I would like to remind her that her long hours of work, missed holidays, and years of devotion to public service were all just stepping stones to helping me realize my own dreams of going into a profession based on helping others too.