Shaw High student wins top journalism honor at Page One Awards

SarahBeth Davis of Shaw High School won the most prestigious student honor and Lindsay Johnson of Northside High School won the first-place teacher trophy Tuesday night during the 41^st annual Page One Awards in the Bill Heard Theatre at the RiverCenter for the Performing Arts.

SarahBeth received the Tucker-Wilder Scholarship, given to the most outstanding local high school senior in the journalism category. Johnson received the Sara Spano Top Teacher Award.

The program, conducted by the Ledger-Enquirer, recognizes the best of the best high school seniors and teachers in the Chattahoochee Valley. This year, 190 seniors and 19 teachers were nominated from the 19 high schools that chose to compete in the 13 student categories and one teacher category. More than 8,000 students and teachers have been honored in the history of the Page One Awards.

“When you consider what these young people have already accomplished, you can’t help but have the utmost confidence in our future,” Ledger-Enquirer president and publisher Rodney Mahone told the audience before he announced the student winners.

Columbus High took home the most awards from this year’s event, collecting seven (five winners, two runners-up). Brookstone (two winners, two runners-up) and Harris County (one winner, three runners-up) were next with four awards, followed by Northside (two winners, one runner-up) and Hardaway (all runners-up) with three and Shaw (one winner, one runner-up) with two. Central, Calvary and Pacelli notched one winner; Carver, Jordan and Spencer received one runner-up.

SarahBeth, chief editor of Shaw’s newspaper staff, impressed the judges with her commitment to journalism. She was primarily responsible for a secondary launch of the school’s online magazine and was instrumental in establishing and managing multiple social media accounts linked to the website.

One of her teachers wrote, “SarahBeth is proficient in writing and storytelling, however not just the type of storytelling that makes the reader feel good, but instead storytelling that challenges the reader to think. … SarahBeth is a standout student because of her leadership qualities, concern for others, and passion for achievement in all areas of life.”

SarahBeth has won multiple awards for her writing. She is treasurer of Shaw’s drama club and a member of the school’s mentoring program. She also volunteers as a contributor to the Valley Rescue Mission’s newsletter.

“Fantastic” is how SarahBeth described her joy in receiving the award.

“I just feel amazing,” she said. “I love working in journalism with my high school and it’s fantastic to get this award for it.”

After graduation later this month, SarahBeth jumps into the field as an intern at the Bayonet & Saber, the newspaper focusing on Fort Benning and military news. In the fall, she is off to Western Kentucky University to study English and journalism.

“I think I came into journalism at a good time,” she said. “I grew up a lot in technology. It’s intuitive to me. That is a skill now just having these technology skills, knowing how to work social media and how to work the websites. It’s fantastic coming in at this time overall.”

The Sara Spano Top Teacher Award is named after the late L-E food editor who also was an educator and a school board member. Johnson teaches special education and coaches basketball, tennis and volleyball at Northside. She annually organizes a prom for the district’s special-education students, and she helped her volleyball team raise more than $10,000 this past year to combat childhood cancer.

Minutes after she was presented the honor, Johnson was almost tearful in her thoughts about her daily goals for the students that don’t include receiving an award.

“It’s definitely an honor to me but like I said I don’t do these things with my students every day for recognition,” she said. “I truly just love them for who they are.”

Johnson said she tells her students everyday that she wants them safe, to teach them functional skills to continue after school, and get a good job. She also wants them to feel loved.

Teaching is her calling from God, Johnson said.

“God definitely led me to my calling when he put me in teaching special needs,” she said. “I will never want to teach anything but special needs.”

In her 10th year of teaching, Johnson is most proud of her students being involved in the regular student body and how they relate to her.

“I think that my students truly love me,” she said. “If I miss school one day and come back in the room, it’s like you’ve been gone for three months. Just seeing them happy, seeing them thrive at school and they are involved in the regular student body, that to me makes me more happy than anything.”

Northside principal Marty Richburg said Johnson has a heart for her students. “She has a heart for the students she teaches, and one can see that reflected in their smiles and in their love for her,” the principal wrote in his recommendation.

While explaining their selection of Johnson, the judges wrote, “Her dedication to her students and their well-being are beyond phenomenal. Her desire to see her students flourish extends well beyond the classroom.”

In addition to their trophies, the award winners received $1,000, except SarahBeth, who received $1,500 for winning the Tucker-Wilder Scholarship, named after three former Ledger or Enquirer editors: W.H. Tucker, W.C. Tucker and Bruce Wilder. The runners-up received $300 along with their plaques. The $19,000 awarded Tuesday night raised the 41-year total amount to $553,000.

Columbus Regional Health returned as the program’s presenting sponsor. The Hardaway High band provided the music.

The 2016 Page One Award winners, followed by the runners-up, in each category are:

▪  Art: Greer Weed (Pacelli), Dakota Gaboury (Harris County).

▪  Athletics: Shardonee Hayes (Columbus), Markus Wright (Jordan).

▪  Career/technology: Briana Hardie (Central), Richard Vale (Columbus).

▪  Citizenship: John Pippins (Northside), Ashton Leddon (Brookstone).

▪  Drama: Cara Hunter (Brookstone), Sam Bolar (Harris County).

▪  English/literature: Madison Finney (Harris County), Caitlin Williams (Hardaway).

▪  Foreign language: Miranda Santiago (Calvary Christian), Cristhian Amable (Spencer).

▪  General scholarship: Ishan Sahoo (Columbus), Kyla Kalugdan (Hardaway).

▪  Journalism: SarahBeth Davis (Shaw), Taylor White (Hardaway).

▪  Mathematics: Ben Tucker (Columbus), Camille Pascua (Shaw).

▪  Music: Caymus Price (Columbus), Jacqueline Sertell (Harris County).

▪  Science: Koyal Ansingkar (Brookstone), Caroline Kittrell (Columbus).

▪  Social science: Caroline Sayers (Columbus), Mannie Solis (Northside).

▪  Top teacher: Lindsay Johnson (Northside), Kenneth Lawrence (Carver), Maria Reed (Brookstone).

This story was originally published May 3, 2016 at 10:09 PM with the headline "Shaw High student wins top journalism honor at Page One Awards."