Ninety three local high school students were recently recognized by the East Mississippi Business Development Corporation Foundation (EMBDC) as Mississippi Scholars and/or Mississippi TechMasters.

The students, representing either the Meridian Public School District or the Lauderdale County School District, all received scholarships during a ceremony last Wednesday at Meridian Community College’s McCain Theater.

In being named a Mississippi Scholar/Mississippi TechMaster, the students committed to a more rigorous curriculum during their high school career and served their community through volunteer hours.

The Mississippi Scholars and TechMaster programs were started by the MS Economic Council and are administered locally by the East Mississippi Business Foundation Board. Scholarships are made possible by the continuous and generous support from The Phil Hardin Foundation.

Since 2014, when the program started in Meridian and Lauderdale County, more than 1,500 students have been recognized and have received approximately $430,000 in scholarships.

Students recognized as Mississippi Scholars were Lauren Belk, Avrie Boles, Kaleb Clark, Drake Callum, Alexis Conklin, Cal Culpepper, Keeton Garrett, Brooke Gibson, McCall Gilmore, Ava Hayes, Cade Hopkins, Lauryl Joyner, Avery Knowles, Loryn Kinsley Rainer, Lance Rawson, and Katie Brooke Smith, all of Clarkdale High School; Alyssa Bland, Elijah Brown, Jordan Davis, Aaliyah Harris, Nikayla Johnson, Karington Lewis, Diamond Martin, Alexia Mosley, Jayda Perkins, all of Meridian High School; Alondra Arreola-Espino, Karsyn Boston, and Diondre Pugh, all of Northeast High School; Ramya Hudnall, Emma Morris, Emily Murray, Kwamaar O’Neal, Jaylon Pruett, and Jaden Vaughn, all of Southeast High School; and Brianna Anthony, Aaron Banks, Zoe Clymer, Andrew Eakes, Brinley Harden, Elizabeth Maxey, Alice McCracken, Katie Shields, Isabella Temple and Alyse Wilson, all of West Lauderdale High School.

Students recognized as Mississippi Tech Master Scholars were Tyler Bearden, Allie Lundy, Maan Patel, Parker Webb and MaKyahia Williams, all of Clarkdale High School; and Kaden Butler and Makayla Gibbs, both from Southeast High School.

Students recognized as both Mississippi Scholars and Mississippi Tech Master Scholars were Brooke Boldin, Gavin Farmer, Luke Goodson, Allison Harrison, Price Hester, Madison Kemble, Landon Nixon, Kamaria Patrick, Stephany Reyes, Jamie Reynolds and Connor Todd, all of Clarkdale High School; Sha’nya Davis, Maliyah Hill, Ty’Shun Hopson, Charm Hunter, Haley Jenkins, MaKiya Lynch, Adrianna McCalebb Coleman, Mikayla Smith, Sumny Vasconcelos, Aaliyah Willis and Emmanuel Wilson, all of Meridian High School; Christiayra Boyd, Hannah Boyette, Kaitlyn Foreman, Gabriel Joles, Larry “Trey” Murphy, Erianna Scott and Braden Smith, all of Northeast High School; Hannah Chapman, Heaven Hollingsworth, Kaleah Johnson, Tyson Marlow, Yojante Naylor, Nicholas Quigley, Hemananth Ravichandran and Branderrious Wallace, all of Southeast High School; and Kinley Cain, Andrea Godwin, Abigail Sanders, Copeland Tillery and Jolee Todd, all of West Lauderdale High School.