Two Mercer students win national Goldwater Scholarship

▪  Mercer University junior Kyla Semmendinger and sophomore Runyu Cai have earned the national Barry Goldwater Scholarship. It pays up to $7,500 in tuition, fees, books, and room and board for one year for juniors and two years for sophomores. Junior Jessica Resnick earned honorable mention.

▪  Nivedha Soundappan, a 2017 Houston County High School graduate, has received a $20,000 scholarship as one of 150 national Coca-Cola Scholars. Soundappan is the school’s 2017 valedictorian and was named the district and region’s STAR Student.

▪  Five local high school graduates were awarded $4,000 scholarships from Robins Financial Credit Union: Sarah Baldree, of Central High School; Nia Foy, Houston County High; Mychal Jackson, Warner Robins High; Erin Powell, Telfair County High; and Adam Rex, Peach County High.

▪  Five Macon Chick-fil-A employees have received $2,500 college scholarships through the company’s Remarkable Futures initiative: David Hudgins, Hayden Spohn, Tristan Bowen, and Sarai Daniels, employees of the Zebulon Road restaurant, and Christina Swann, employee at the Eisenhower Road location.

▪  Stratford Academy senior Grace Deedrick won second place in vocal performance and senior Monica Montalvo-Perez took second place in the art category in the Kiwanis Club of Macon’s Art and Talent Showcase in March. Both received $750 scholarships.

This story was originally published June 8, 2017 at 11:29 AM with the headline "Two Mercer students win national Goldwater Scholarship."