Forestry pageant, community club both celebrate Middle Georgia traditions

For almost 80 years, the Georgia Forestry Commission and the Georgia Forestry and Educational Association Inc. have recognized the academic achievements of young Georgia women.

During Father’s Day weekend, the 78th Miss Georgia Forestry Scholarship Pageant took place in Tifton with contestants in the teen, high school and college age categories. Katie Berry Moody, the 14-year-old daughter of Tiffany and Jay Nelson and of Terry Moody, represented her hometown in the pageant as the Teen Miss Jones County Forestry Queen.

The categories of competition included a platform speech, an interview with pageant judges and an appearance in appropriate pageant dress. Moody selected the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation as the charity she supports and presented a speech about opportunities for self improvement and for helping others achieve their goals.

In her comments to the audience and to the judges, she complimented the sponsoring organization for its proficiency in hosting the pageant and expressed her appreciation for the opportunity to make lasting friendships with other contestants.

Since she was old enough to reach a kitchen counter, Moody has been cooking everything from home grown vegetables to fine cuisine with an insatiable curiosity. She has approached every interest with the same intensity — auditioning for and singing in the Mercer University’s children’s choir, pursuing her love of horses with the best instruction available and reaching for the brass ring in academia. She has established a reputation as an achiever.

Although the weekend of interviews and appearances is fast paced and can be stressful, Moody ended the gala event with the Teen Miss Georgia Forestry second runner up position and received a $10,000 scholarship to Wesleyan College and an engraved silver tray. She also qualified for the Teen Miss U.S. National Forestry competition, which will be held Sept. 2.

Georgia can be proud of its young, bright and attractive women, who bring positive attention to the state and who represent Georgia with beauty and intelligence.

REVIVAL OF THE HOWARD COMMUNITY

The Howard Community Club celebrated its centennial in September 2016, 100 years since the Bibb County Board of Education built the Howard School as a combined grammar and high school to replace a number of one-room school houses in the same area of north Bibb County.

Although high school students were eventually enrolled in the downtown high schools, the grammar school did not close until the students were absorbed into the population of the new Alexander IV school on Ridge Avenue in 1938.

Although there was no need for a school, the neighborhood rallied to create an activity center for the residents of what is known as the Howard Community, a large area of land encompassed by boundaries at Bowman and Zebulon roads, the Monroe County line and the original city limits of Macon. The club sits on a knoll behind the corner of Bass and Forsyth roads where Martha Bowman Methodist Church is located.

According to the president of the club, Harry Davis, interest in the club and its activities waned for a time during the first years of this century. However, Davis said that with the increasing number of people living near the community center, the thrice yearly meetings are well attended and it is hoped that the monthly meetings will be restored.

Cindy Buice, program chairman for the meetings, is piquing the interest of members with timely topics that engage the members who attend. On June 22, Buice asked some Macon ballroom dancers, along with fitness and dance instructor Paula East, to demonstrate dance moves and exercise routines to get people out of their chairs and moving!

Trish Barfield’s caramel cake was enough incentive to urge some members to get rid of the calories and East was not shy about inviting members of the audience to join the activities.

Buice said the members of the community club enjoy interactive programs more than they do speakers, because the former lends a more festive air to the evenings, when the neighbors get together to visit and to have fun.

This story was originally published June 29, 2017 at 3:13 PM with the headline "Forestry pageant, community club both celebrate Middle Georgia traditions."