This year, we were glad that Rick was able to arrange his schedule in order to attend the ELCA Athletic Ceremony and present the scholarship to a lovely young lady, Alayna Carrandi. She is a very strong girl that suffered the hardship of losing her mother during her senior year.
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Alayna with her brother, grandparents,
Scott Reeves, Rick and Judy |
Alayna was a two-sport student in soccer and volleyball. She was very involved in academic and school organizations such as National Honor Society, National Spanish Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta (math honor society), Beta Club, ELCA Student Leadership Institute, Student Council, and FCA. In addition to maintaining a 4.21 grade-point average and holding a part-time job, she found time to be the chaplin of her senior class, the campus representative for a non-profit organization, and participated in the ELCA reading buddies program.
Alyana was also the recipient of the Zell Miller Scholarship. Her plans are to attend University of Georgia in the fall and pursue a career in pediatric medicine. Stephen would be very proud knowing Alayna was the recipient of a scholarship in his memory.
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Jan 2006, Will was supporting
Jon and the Wildcats on the basketball court. |
On May 28th, we were very pleased to attend the PCHS Awards banquet and honor a long time friend and neighbor, Will Redden. Will was always an avid supporter of the Pendleton County Wildcats, even at a very young age. The picture to the left shows Will with his sign cheering on one of his favorite players. Little did he know that nine years later, Jon would be awarding Will with the Stephen Elrod Memorial Scholarship.
Will graduated from Pendleton County High School with a 3.875 GPA and ranked 8th out of a class size of 162. In addition to Will excelling in the classroom, he was also an active member in his church with the praise band and the mission team.
Will was a very active student in different organizations at school. He was the Pep Band Assistant Director and held the first chair in the percussion section. Will was a four-year member of the Student Council holding various offices, Future Farmers of America, National Honor Society, and Senior Council. As busy of a schedule that Will had, he found time to also excel on the baseball field.
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| Rick presenting Will with his scholarship |
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| Will and Jon after the ceremony |
He was honored as being a KHSAA Academic All-State member. Although he had various scholarship opportunities to further his baseball career at the college level, he decided to focus solely on his academics at Northern Kentucky University, where his mother is a professor, and pursue a career in construction management.
Will's father, Mike Redden is the circuit
clerk in Pendleton County. Mike relayed
a conversation he had with Stephen
shortly before his untimely death.
Stephen had previously renewed his license, but had noticed he had not signed the back of the license to be an organ donor. On his lunch hour one day, Stephen drove to Falmouth to specifically sign up as an organ donor. When Mike questioned him and commented he was too young to be concerned with such things, Stephen told him he had a personal relationship with Jesus and if anything ever happened to him, he didn't want there to be any question as to his wishes.
On May 9th, 2015, Stephen's brother, Jon, brought a new member into our little family. We couldn't be more proud or happy. It was a beautiful ceremony. The only thing that seemed missing was Stephen. However, Stephen had put his stamp of approval on the marriage. Rick found a turkey feather on the morning that we were preparing to leave for the venue. 
