by David Snow
The Paducah Sun
February 19, 2022
Used with permission.
When Paducah Tilghman High School junior Dasia Garland first heard about the PaxtonScholars program, it came as a small surprise to her.
“I had never heard of a scholarship like that until one of my teammates actually told me about it,” she said. “She was like, ‘You really need to apply for this. It’s really good.’ I said, ‘I don’t think I’m going to get it.’
“I tried it, anyway, and when I got it, I was like, ‘Wow — me?’ I really didn’t think I was going to get it. I was really surprised.”
The PaxtonScholars program provides recipients with a laptop computer. This is the first year that it has been provided immediately instead of providing it during the senior year, and many of the recipients are finding that change to be beneficial.
“I need another laptop in the house because my mother wanted to use mine,” Garland said. “It’s very convenient to have another one.”
Garland is one of the first student representatives on the Paducah district school board, along with classmate Synia Shawlaster. The two juniors serve as board liaisons with students at all school levels in the Paducah school district and bring the thoughts and ideas of those students to the school board.
“It’s really fun,” Garland said. “It’s time-consuming, but I love it. I love being able to talk to all the students about what they do or don’t like about their school. It’s kind of like being a bigger sister to some of them, and I really love it.
“We talk to the school board about concerns that we might have, give them a student’s perspective. We also talk to the teachers and principals. We’re trying to bring more inclusion into the high school, something that every student — despite having different background or being involved in different activities — something that can bring them all together.”
Garland is on the girls’ basketball varsity team and the girls’ track and field varsity team. She also takes part in National Honor Society.
Garland said she feels good about being a PaxtonScholar.
“To me, that’s one of the biggest accomplishments because it’s a scholarship,” she said. “It’s the first step toward getting more scholarships that I hope to get.
“I didn’t think they had scholarships like that for minorities, so to get that and have younger generations know that they can be a part of it — I think that’s amazing.”
Garland said she is interested in attending the University of Louisville — what she called her “dream school” — or possibly West Kentucky Community and Technical College.
“I want to be either a physical therapist or a lawyer,” she said. “I’m leaning more toward the physical therapist. I like to help people with their injuries, like my teammates, when somebody needs their ankle wrapped or they need ice.
“Just being able to help people get through their injuries and seeing the progress that they make, it just makes me happy.”
Garland is the daughter of Tracey Lenox of Paducah and DeMarcus Garland of Louisville.
The PaxtonScholars program is provided through the McCracken County Community Career Endowment Inc. (MCCCE), which was established by former Paducah Sun publisher Fred Paxton and his wife, Peggy. Fred Paxton was also the chairman of the board and president of Paxton Media Group, which owns The Paducah Sun and WPSD Local 6.
The Paxtons put $1 million into the Community Foundation of West Kentucky to set up the MCCCE endowment for six annual scholarships presented to six high school juniors attending school in McCracken County.
“He had met with some community representatives — J.W. Cleary and B.A. Hamilton and others — to see how he could help the African-American community,” said Don Mitchell, the director of MCCCE Inc.
“He understood and realized real quick that when part of our community needs help, the whole community needs help. That was the emphasis that he put on it: for members of the African-American community to get better jobs, to get a better education and get better diversity in employment — just to raise the tide for everybody.”
That last statement references a saying that “A rising tide raises all ships,” meaning that improvements in one segment of a community benefits the whole community.
This year’s Class XII consists of six Paducah Tilghman High School juniors: Garland, Christopher Allen, Coy Booker, Justice Campbell, Joemari Starks and Kauri Whitfield.
Follow David B. Snow on Twitter, @SunWithSnow, or on Facebook at facebook.com/sunwithsnow.