During the Smyrna Business Association meeting on Tuesday, June 5th, three high school students in the Smyrna area earned $1,500 each for their academic performances and potential as business leaders.

Ana Martinez

The first to receive the scholarship, Ana Martinez, earned a 3.821 GPA at Osborne High School while working 25 hours a week to support her family. With English as her second language, Martinez also earned induction to the National Honor Society. Martinez plans to attend Georgia State University’s Perimeter College in the fall.

Eddie Richardson

Eddie Richardson was the second awardee and is a graduate of the International Baccalaureate program at Campbell High School. Ranked 8th in his class, Eddie had a weighted GPA of 4.745 and an unweighted GPA of 4.0 in all of his studies. The young Richardson was a member of the Cobb County Chamber of Commerce 2017 Cobb Youth Leadership team and an officer of the Cobb County NAACP Youth Executive Committee.

He will be attending Harvard University in economics and has a paid internship at Turner Broadcasting. His plan is to return to work in the Smyrna community to apply the business and engineering skills he learns at Harvard.

Charles Milliron

The third scholarship recipient was Charles Milliron. Charles is also a graduate of Campbell International Baccalaureate Diploma Program and finished Campbell with a 4.382 weighted GPA. Milliron is an Eagle Scout and maintains two communal libraries in town that provide free literature to people, who might not be able to afford the purchase of new books. He is both a swimmer and water polo player; and earned the national water polo scholar award for past two years, an award given to 130 people across the country. Milliron has been accepted and will attend the University of Georgia.

The Smyrna Business Association Scholarships

“Each year the Smyrna Business Association awards three scholarships to a student who has attended Campbell High, Osborne High or Whitefield Academy and who has excelled over the past four years as a student. Our winners are students, who exhibit the desire and the ability to become a future business leader in our community,” says Jim Duelmer, chairperson of the organization’s education foundation.

Campbell High is the largest school in the Cobb County Public School system. Osborne enrollment is 2,200. Whitefield Academy is a private institution.

Smyrna Business Association members Jabar Dozier, Lisa Sunday and Charlie Silva were a part of the selection committee along with Jim Duelmer. The applicants were the strongest the committee had ever reviewed, according to Duelmer. The awards were presented by President of the SBA David Monroe.