with Patsy Nobles Jones
It started out with one sibling earning the Jacks Creek Community Club Scholarship in 2008. Drew Greenway was presented this scholarship by Ralph and Kathy Mays. For club members the scholarship was an encouraging way to motivate students to earn the Jacks Creek Community Club Scholarship while a senior. Wow! Did it ever motivate!
Steady work, taking challenging classes and staying focused produced an accomplishment for a senior. Drew Greenway earned Chester County High School Valedictorian Scholarship in 2018. He received a full scholarship to attend University of Huntsville, Ala.
Behind the scene was a quiet petite “peanut” observing her only sibling. She had footsteps to follow but had the inner confidence saying, “Anything you can do I can do.” This sister was right! Megan Greenway was presented the Jacks Creek Community Club Scholarship by Ralph and Kathy Mays in 2011. Megan Greenway was not finished! Megan earned two honors in 2021 — Kathy Bailey Memorial Scholarship and Chester County High School Valedictorian Scholarship. She will attend Jackson State Community College going into radiology. Megan’s bucket list consists of traveling all 50 U.S. states, viewing Moraine Lake, visiting Canada and Greece and having a good impact on others.
Jacks Creek Community is so pleased to see a rare happening! Two valedictorians from the same family! It is like a jingle – “Double your pleasure. Double your fun. Double the work with double valedictorians from one Jacks Creek home.” We are very proud of Drew and Megan Greenway!
These students lives were just getting started as America grieved over the 9/11 attack on Twin Towers in New York (2001). Now, they are graduating as the world grieves a pandemic taking numerous lives (2020 through now). Two important events, your birth and graduation, took place near the midst of tragedies. The world is still a wonderful place that is waiting with open arms for you to overcome tragedies and soar like an eagle.
The eagle represents our United States of America and our own Chester County. Who knows? The Flintstones on television entertained in the 1960s. During your lifetime, you may travel and live in space while circling Earth with friends. You are challenged by electronics while most senior citizens see it as science-fiction. Prayerfully, you may be in a group who discover the cure for cancer and other debilitating afflictions.
High School Graduation is celebrating an individual’s academic achievement. It is a memorable yet sentimental day of a senior’s life. Closing a chapter of your life’s story, thus far gives the book 13 chapters from kindergarten through senior year. The remaining years in your life is called a novel.
There is an intensity of emotions – more sentiment and memorable events, reflection, nostalgic and Decoration Day in May is a reminder great-grandparents missed knowing these great graduating young women and men.
Megan toiled through classes to come out as 2021 Valedictorian. She knew she could do anything with hard work. Her 13 years of various classes, students and teachers were happy times. At Jacks Creek School Megan loved Mrs. Vicki Morris Brower in second grade. She was a very big encourager while being kind to everyone with a sweet smile. Those are great qualities and important for a young impressionable girl, but sometimes overlooked. In high school, Mrs. Brianne Matheney’s enthusiasm and love of English made it a subject Megan learned to love.
Teachers are such influences! Mrs. Brower and Mrs. Matheney are two examples where education was taught as a remarkable tool. That helped enable Megan to achieve that catapult (launch) to success. Dedication, perseverance, integrity, honesty, conscientiousness, dependability and hard work were goals set early by parents, grandparents, teachers and studious students. Filling a sibling’s footsteps reminds Megan of wise words, “Anything you can do I can do.”
Drew is incredibly proud of his sister. She had pressures of achievement placed early on her to “follow in brother’s footsteps.” He admires her intelligence, decisiveness and independence, not yet learned by an older sibling he says. There is little doubt his sister will accomplish anything her mind sets to do. His advice, “Don’t let anyone clip your wings.”
Megan’s parents are Keith and Melissa Greenway, and grandparents are Sheila and Sherrill Ryals and Danny and Pam Greenway. They marvel at her accomplishments through tears and smiles. Looking back Megan toddled off to start kindergarten and more years finished her successful senior year. Megan’s parents gave her confidence by simply encouraging her to do her best, and that would be good enough for them. Their guiding words are, “Keep your eyes on Christ and you will accomplish anything you set your mind to in life.”
Megan’s maternal grandparents, “Papaw” and “Nana” Ryals, feel blessed to see a beautiful, amazing and dedicated young lady develop into a dedicated student. She has one year of college behind her already. These grandparents hope other young people see Megan as an inspiration. They stressed, “Continue to put God first and you’ll go further with His blessings.”
Megan’s paternal grandparents, “Poppy” and “Gran Gran” Greenway feel Megan was a gift. They cherish the numerous Sunday afternoons visits. They enjoyed crafts. Meagan would sit with her Poppy in his recliner watching movies. Their words, “We’re proud of you. Remember whose you are!”
Graduation is a celebration, a farewell and a beginning. Make good choices in life and you will have good consequences. Blessings to Chester County High School Class of 2021.
