Alumni Association Honors 9 Outstanding Juniors

The Alumni Association honored nine members of the Class of 1W7 for outstanding academic achievement at the 21st Annual Student Academic Achievement Awards Dinner at the Porch Restaurant at the Lamb in Springfield recently.

The students honored were: Construction Technology-Carpentry, Jeffrey Handley; Construction Technology-Masonry, Jonathan Carnes; Horticulture, Landscaping, and Turf Management, Thomas Concannon, Michael Schneider; Machine Tool Technology, Brian McAlinney, Ryan Martin; Paint & Coatings Technology, Jesse Martinez; and Power Plant Technology, Daniel Coleman, Dominic Marascio.

With James Simpson 1W2, Alumni Association second vice president, serving as master of ceremonies, the evening opened with words of encouragement to the students from President Michael Rounds, who said “You are  excelling at Williamson and next year you will be the leaders. Your classmates will be looking up to you as role models.”

Then the audience heard keynote speaker John “Jack” Lemon, an author, speak about his recently published book “Immortal of the Cinder Path – The Saga of James ‘Ted’ Meredith” A 19W12 masonry graduate, Meredith won two gold medals and set two world records at the 1912 Olympics. Meredith was always referred to as “Mercersburg Ted,” but Lemon said he should have been called “Williamson Ted” because he was already the top runner in Pennsylvania when he went to Mercersburg, having learned to run at Williamson.

Next, Simpson and William Goodworth 8W2, Alumni Association first vice president, presented each of the juniors with a certificate and trophy for their accomplishments.

The evening ended with the Artisans, under the leadership of Sherre Gaertner, singing a Williamson version of “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” and then led the crowd in the singing of the alma mater.

As the evening concluded, Lemon gave each of the nine juniors a copy of his book and then signed books for those who purchased a copy.