Dateline: May 12, 2005

Clarendon, Hedley name top students for '05

By Cheryl Johnson, Clarendon Enterprise

The Clarendon and Hedley school districts have named Shanna Shelton, Stephen Howard, Robert Shelton, and Allison Hill as the top students in Donley County for 2005.

With a grade average of 97.45, Shanna Shelton has been named the valedictorian at Clarendon High School.  She is the daughter of Stan and Melanie Shelton of Clarendon. 

During her high school career, Shanna was involved in cross country, basketball, softball, track, band, UIL Literary Criticism, UIL Mathematics, UIL Calculator Applications, Student Council, National Honor Society, Texas Association of Future Educators, and Spanish Club.

She has received the BWXT Pantex and Ascension Academy Award of Excellence in Math and Science, the Daughters of the American Revolution American History Award, US Naval Academy Scholastic Excellence Award, US Army Reserve National Scholar/Athlete Award, and the Donley County Chamber of Commerce Young Woman of the Year Award.

Shanna volunteers her time with the Clarendon Little League as a coach and umpire and with the Clarendon Little Dribblers as a coach.  She is a member of the First Baptist Church.

Shanna will be attending West Texas A&M University in the fall.

Stephen Howard is the valedictorian at Hedley High School He is the son of Bruce and Gwynne Howard of Hedley.  He was a two-way starter in football the last three years and is a four-year letterman in basketball, starting at point guard the last three years.  He earned All-District and All-Region honors in both sports.  As a junior, he was named Hedley’s Male Athlete of the Year. This year he also qualified for the regional tennis meet in doubles and last year was part of the cross-country district championship team.

In UIL Academic Competition, Howard won four straight District Number Sense titles and qualified for the state Number Sense contest both his sophomore and senior years.  In Science competition, he won the district Chemistry championship for the past three years, was overall Science district champion this year, and won the Regional Science Championship and Chemistry section of the regional test this year as well.  He qualified for the State UIL Academic Meet in Math recently, becoming only the second Hedley student to qualify for the state in three events. 

He was also a member of the One Act Play cast last year and the OAP crew this year.  He qualified the past two years for the state BPA contest in Financial Math and Analysis. 

Stephen was named valedictorian this year with a cumulative GPA of 3.847.  He will attend Texas Tech University to major in biochemistry.

Robert Shelton has been named salutatorian at CHS with a grade point average of 96.19.  He is the son of Myles and Gail Shelton of Clarendon.

During his high school career, Robert was involved in Bronco Band where he was Drum Major for two years; French Club; National Honor Society; UIL One Act Play where he was a regional qualifier for two years and an area qualifier for two years; UIL Persuasive Speaking; and UIL Regional Qualifier Lincoln Douglas Debate.

He has received the rank of Eagle Scout and the National Youth Leadership Forum Achievement Award. He was a State Qualifying Soloist (Band-Euphonium) for three years and received awards in the UIL One-Act play including five All-Star Cast awards, one honorable mention, and two Best Actor awards.

He will attend Baylor University in the fall, and he has received the President’s Scholarship.

Hedley’s salutatorian is Allison Hill, the daughter of Bryan and Debbie Hill of Hedley.  She has attended Hedley High School all four years of high school.  She participated in basketball all four years and qualified for regional tennis three years.  She ran on the cross-country team as a sophomore and has been part of the One Act Play for two years.

She has also been a member of the Hedley High School Choir for three years.  She was inducted into the National Honor Society her sophomore year and has been the vice president the past two years.  She also participated in the area FFA talent show after winning the district division.

Allison was named salutatorian this year with a cumulative GPA of 3.791.  She will attend Clarendon College.