Tammy Needham Memorial Scholarship

My name is Jameson Fleenor. I am a senior at Sundance High School. I am exceptionally active in my school and community through organizations such as 4-H, FFA, youth group, student council, basketball, football, and track. I am also a leader. I am the president of both our FFA Chapter and our school’s student council. I was also a captain on both the football and basketball teams. In the classroom, I have kept a 4.0 GPA for my high school career. I have also taken many college-level classes including Math 1400, English Comp 1, and Comp 2. I am currently ranked first in a senior class of twenty-seven. The person that initially spiked my interest in engineering was Tammy Needham herself. Miss Needham was my fourth-grade teacher at Sundance Elementary School. Looking back on my fourth-grade experience, it was evident that she saw my STEM-oriented mind, and she pushed me to use it to my fullest potential. Miss Needham assigned many problem-solving and building assignments that allowed me to find an interest in the subject. Miss Needham pushed for STEM in and out of the classroom. During my fourth grade year, she convinced me to participate in Destination Imagination, in which she was the leader. During my year in DI, I had to work with my team to build a structure out of popsicle sticks that would hold as much weight as possible. After months of brainstorming and problem-solving, our team had a design ready that held the most weight at state DI and we were able to win the division and qualify for DI Nationals. I cite this as the first event that got me interested in engineering. With the degree I am pursuing, I plan to become a civil engineer. The field has good job security and opportunities that I want to tackle. In my job, I want to be innovative. I want to be able to help influence new techniques and technologies that will improve the way the job is carried out. I want to be a valued employee, allowing me to reap the benefits and help my firm or company to perform better. The degree will set me up to be able to provide a steady income that will allow me to provide for my family. It will also help me and my family to be able to travel to the various places that I have wanted to visit since I was young. At the top of this list is Greece, where I would love to see the ancient architecture I have learned about in school. Getting a degree is an extremely crucial part of my life plan, and the Tammy Needham Memorial Scholarship would be very helpful in letting me pursue it.