Seth Alexander Morris, a senior at Salisbury High School, has been selected by Sewanee: The University of the South to receive the Benedict Scholarship for the class of 2013.
The scholarship, valued at $175,000 over four years, is the highest honor conferred to a student entering the University of the South, covering full tuition, room, board and fees each year.
Morris is the son of Pam and Joe Morris of Salisbury.
At Sewanee, he intends to double major in political science and environmental studies. Morris plans to eventually study law.
A National Merit Scholarship Finalist and Advanced Placement Scholar with Distinction, Morris served in the student government association at Salisbury High and as president of the Junior Civitan. He participated as captain of the Academic Competition Team and played soccer.
He was a junior marshal, Junior Rotarian and member of the National Honor Society.
Morris attended Governor’s School and Summer Ventures and participated in the Campus Y Catalyst Conference at UNC Chapel Hill. A graduate of Youth Leadership Rowan, he received the SHS Outstanding Community Service Award and the Elizabeth Maxwell Steele Chapter DAR Good Citizen Award.
He was a finalist in the N.C. State Mathematics Contest and recipient of the SHS Advanced Placement Environmental Science Award.
Morris was recently selected as a Time Warner All-Star, an honor that recognizes outstanding high school seniors.
Morris has been a volunteer and intern with the LandTrust for Central North Carolina and a volunteer for Barack Obama’s Campaign for Change.
As a member of Boy Scout Troop 443, he achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, earning 24 merit badges and serving in numerous leadership positions.
Morris also volunteers for Rowan Helping Ministries, the Historic Salisbury Foundation, Downtown Salisbury Inc., Rowan County Special Olympics and Rowan Regional Medical Center Foundation.
Pfeiffer junior earns computer support certification
Christopher Dyer, a junior computer information systems major at Pfeiffer University, recently earned the CompTIA A+ Certification, a national accreditation recognized by technology vendors and computer support professionals.
A Rockwell native, Dyer is the first student from Pfeiffer’s CIS Department to obtain this certification.
CompTIA A+ is an international, vendor-neutral certification that confirms a technician’s ability to perform various tasks such as installation, configuration and diagnostics. This designation also confirms those certified have learned and mastered principles for dealing with security and environmental issues.
“This invaluable certification ensures that students have learned and obtained these imperative skills,” said Dr. Gerald Poplin, assistant professor of CIS and director of Pfeiffer’s Cisco and Microsoft academies. “By offering these prominent certification options, our CIS program gives students the opportunity to tailor their talents to job specific areas and demonstrates to prospective employers a level of proficiency upon which they can depend.”
Professionals applying for Information Technology positions who have earned at least two industry certifications have a 40 percent greater chance of being employed than their peers who had none, according to a 2008 study by the U.S. Department of Labor.
The study also found that technology professionals with certification credentials made at least 25 percent more than colleagues who had not completed any certifications.
In 2006, Pfeiffer became one of the first four-year colleges in the Southeast to become a Cisco Academy, which prepares students for networking and IT-related careers.
RCCC student elected president of state N4CSGA associationJonathan Furnas, a Rowan-Cabarrus Community College student, has been elected president of the N.C. Comprehensive Community College Student Government Association, known as the N4CSGA.
A resident of Spencer, Furnas is a computer programming and mechanical engineering student and the current student government association president at RCCC.
Furnas was one of nine RCCC student delegates who attended the annual N4CSGA spring conference, held recently in Durham. The RCCC delegation attended leadership workshops and business meetings and participated in competitions and award interviews.
RCCC student government parliamentarian Kimberly Reavis received the Daryl Mitchell Outstanding Leadership Award for the N4CSGA central division. Reavis is an accounting student from Salisbury.
Also in the RCCC delegation were Crystal Barlow, Rachel Ennis, Karen Isenhour, Lyndsey McGonagle, Quinn Shay, Stan Smith, Robyn Vaughn and advisor Natasha Lipscomb.