Eighth Grade Basketball Star Excels in All Aspects of Life
For Immediate Release
Contact: Renee Whitener, Director of Corporate Communications, Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation, (828) 758-2383 ext. 3213; Pager:1-800-471-1323; or E-mail: Renee Whitener
Lenoir, North Carolina (September 24, 2004) – Carrington Paige Ammons makes good grades, plays sports, sings with the choir, is a church volunteer and participates in an array of activities. This may seem normal for most 14-year-olds but Ammons takes it one step further.
Not only does she earn good grades, she also has made straight A’s her entire academic career, has taken academically gifted classes and is enrolled in all honors classes at South Caldwell High School.
She doesn’t just sing with the school choir, but participated in All-State chorus and is a member of the Hickory Choral Society.
She not only volunteers with her church, but she serves Christmas dinner at First Baptist Church in Granite Falls to the elderly and less fortunate, gathers ink cartridges from family, businesses and neighbors to recycle and receive cash for her school, collects soda can tabs for the Dialysis Kidney Fund and baby-sits neighborhood children.
Her array of activities include serving as secretary of Junior Beta Club, being class representative for student council, membership in the Duke University “TIP” Talent Identification Program.
Playing four sports, she’s also the recipient of the Presidential Fitness Award.
Her passion among all the sports she loves is basketball and recently a basketball dream came true for Ammons. She was sponsored by Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation to attend North Carolina’s Touchstone Energy Cooperatives Kay Yow Camp Scholarship Camp this summer. Ammons was awarded the scholarship with input from her essay and letters of recommendation from coaches, teachers and her principal.
Her career on the court began in the first grade at Dudley Shoals Elementary at the age of seven. She was fascinated by the sport and with a strong will and the encouragement of her parents, she worked hard at building a dream. The confidence instilled in her by Coach Richard Byrd helped her develop into a point guard.
In the sixth grade Ammons began playing “Rec.” ball and her team won the championship. Her first tryout for a school team came in seventh grade, where she practiced hard the summer before and attended workouts with South Caldwell to build on her skills. After two years of playing, her Granite Falls Middle School team finished the season 11-1 and were the season and conference champions. This fall, Ammons hopes to become a South Caldwell “Spartan” and continue on this path that she has built for so many years.
Young athletes such as Ammons should motivate us all to remember that anything is possible with a little hard work and determination. If you dream it, you can achieve it.
