Mt. Hiram Lodge #595 distributes Lamar Awards and scholarships

By BRITTANY FHOLER
Cove Leader-Press

Members of Mt. Hiram Masonic Lodge #595 of Copperas Cove presented the Mirabeau B. Lamar Award to two Copperas Cove High School Class of 2021 seniors and one educator Tuesday evening at the lodge. 
The two students receiving the award and a scholarship of $3,000 each were Matthew Lanning and Mikayla Jackson. The recipient for Teacher of the Year was Sandra Perry, who teaches Nursing and Pharmacy Technician classes at Copperas Cove High School. 
Each student received a $3,000 scholarship made up of $1,500 from Lodge #595 with a matching $1,500 contribution from the Grand Lodge of Texas. Perry received a check for $100 from the lodge. 
The Lodge’s Senior Warden James Johnsen presented the awards to each recipient, and the Lodge’s Worshipful Master Darrell McDonald presented each recipient with the medal featuring the bust of Mirabeau B. Lamar on the front and the recipient’s name on the back.  
Johnsen described Matthew Lanning as “dependable, goal oriented, bright, energetic, compassionate and genuinely well-rounded.”
Lanning was on the student council, the UIL Academic team, the A-Honor Roll, as well as the National Honor Society. He also helped with the Feast of Sharing, the Food for Families Food Drive and the Make a Difference Day, as well as volunteered as a bell ringer for the Salvation Army. 
Lanning plans to attend the University of Texas in Austin and major in Biochemistry to pursue a career in Pharmacology. 
Lanning said the scholarship was very helpful and would help with his tuition. 
Johnsen described Mikayla Jackson as “an extraordinary leader and outstanding citizen in that she gives countless hours of her time to various service projects at Copperas Cove High School and the community all while holding down her job as well.”
Jackson is involved in Student Council, National Honor Society, the UIL Academic Team and the yearbook. She also volunteered with the Keep Copperas Cove Beautiful Spring Eco Fling, laying wreaths on graves with Wreaths for Vets, and led freshman orientation at Copperas Cove High School. 
Jackson plans to attend the University of North Texas and major in Fashion Merchandising. 
“It truly means a lot because I’ve been looking forward to graduating since my freshman year, and I’ve just been working hard to save up, working at Chick-fil-A, trying to save up for my tuition and everything and just to get this scholarship means so much to me because it’s helping me towards paying for my books, fees, tuition, just to go towards my college career,” Jackson said. 
Perry was described as someone who, as CTE department head, “puts a lot of thought in course offerings to ensure courses being taught will transfer to a job after graduation,” Johnsne said. “She challenges her students to learn as much as they can with hands on training and practicing the skills to be successful in the nursing and/or pharmacy industry.”
Perry was grateful for the recognition. 
“It means a lot. I’m very honored, very humbled and it’s just been a privilege to work for Copperas Cove ISD for all of these years,” Perry said. “I’ve always been supported, and it just feels great to be nominated and awarded.”
CCHS Principal Jimmy Shuck said that it is always great to have students get recognized for their accomplishments.
“I’ve said time and time again that we’ve got great kids and great teachers in Copperas Cove, and you can’t find greater examples of that than who got recognized tonight,” Shuck said “They give you just a brief overview of what they do, but all three of them are very highly involved in our community and in the school so those are the things that we talk to our kids about when we strive for our kids to be great community leaders and great examples to other kids in the community and our teachers to be very involved, and all three of them, they do a great job of it as well.”
The Mirabeau B. Lamar Award is named after Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar, the “Father of Texas Education”, former president of the Republic of Texas and a Texas Independence hero. Lamar is so named the “Father of Texas Education” for his role in the establishing of a public school system, including the setting aside of public lands to support two colleges- the University of Texas and Texas A&M University- and the creation of a permanent endowment for the support of public education that is still alive to this day.  
Under the leadership of Grand Master Graham Childress, the Grand Lodge of Texas established the Lamar Award of Excellence in 1988, to be awarded to students and educators in recognition of outstanding personal achievement in academics, citizenship, community service or sports.