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| Dr. Mike Murray (center), superintendent of Jackson County Public Schools, accepts the “Ducks on the Tuck” trophy from Dr. Don Tomas, president of SCC, and Tucker the Duck. |
In a photo finish, Jackson County narrowly edged out Macon County by raising the most money for this year’s virtual “Ducks on the Tuck” fundraising event for New Century Scholars.
Organized by the Southwestern Community College Foundation, this year’s “race” was a raffle that pitted each of SCC’s service-area counties against one another to see which could sell the most tickets.
Angie Templeton of Franklin won the “Duck Draw Raffle” grand prize: a 50-inch Westinghouse smart flatscreen television donated by Custom Sound and Security of Franklin. Templeton’s son, Sam, is a New Century Scholar student at Macon Middle School. More than 30 other prizes were awarded through this year’s event.
In the overall ticket sales, Jackson County edged out second-place Macon County and third-place Swain County. Altogether this year, SCC has raised more than $57,655.63 for the New Century Scholars program.
Established in 1995 by Dr. Charles McConnell, former Jackson County superintendent, and then-SCC president Dr. Barry Russell, New Century Scholars provides last-dollar tuition assistance and extra support such as dedicated advising to deserving area students.
“This program has touched thousands of lives over the years while bringing a college education within reach of more families than ever before,” said Dr. Don Tomas, president of SCC.
“We’re grateful for the generous spirit our communities continue to show in supporting New Century Scholars.”
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| Angie Templeton of Franklin (left) accepts the grand prize flatscreen TV from Kathy Posey of the SCC Foundation. |
In conjunction with the virtual race and raffle, SCC held a “Where’s Tucker” selfie photo contest via social media.
Submitting the most-creative selfie from each county were Devon Grizzle of Jackson County, Lauren Capoccia of Macon County and James Posey of Swain County.
Each of them won Bluetooth headphones provided by Boyd and Lynda Sossamon of Radio Shack of Sylva.
For more information about the New Century Scholars program, contact Kathy Posey at 339.4227 or k_posey@southwesterncc.edu.
