Seventeen-year-old Blaire Ruth didn”t set out to become an inspiration to others; she was just trying to make it through her senior year at Caledonia High School. Day after day, month after month, the challenges kept mounting.
“You can”t break down,” she told herself. “You can”t break down.”
Her strong will, and her determination to remain focused on academics, paid off. Last week, a local car dealer handed her the keys to a shiny, silver 2008 Chevrolet Impala so that at least one of her worries has been alleviated — how to get back and forth to classes at East Mississippi Community College.
Allen Jones, owner of Allen Jones Used Cars in Caledonia, has awarded a used car to a local senior for the past four years, but he said when he read Ruth”s application essay, he knew she was the one.
He was looking for drive, ambition, potential, and need. She had all four qualities.
”This senior had a plan”
In her essay, Ruth explained how her father had taught her that the hardest part of any battle is taking the first step. She wanted to attend college, but the transportation obstacle seemed almost overwhelming.
Normally, she borrowed her mother”s car when she had to go somewhere, but with two younger sisters — and EMCC being more than 70 miles away from her home — that was a solution that wasn”t always going to work.
“Dependable transportation is definitely a major hurdle for me to overcome before college becomes a reality for me,” she wrote. “It is disheartening to think that the opportunity to influence future generations could come to a screeching halt before ever getting started because of not being able to get to school to obtain the education needed.”
She outlined her plan: She would take basic classes at EMCC, then transfer to Mississippi State to study early childhood education, finishing her degree at Mississippi University for Women.
Jones saw the need, but what impressed him was the desire.
“I think she would make it whether we gave her a car or not,” Jones said. “She seemed motivated to go ahead and make something of herself even in the midst of a bad financial situation. This senior had a plan and seemed determined to see it through.”
”You have to know God”s on your side”
What Jones didn”t discover until later was that there was more to Ruth”s situation than she mentioned in her essay.
The quiet senior failed to mention how she came home from school last November and walked into the kitchen to find her home on fire.
She didn”t tell him how her family had stayed in an apartment for two weeks before moving into a parsonage offered by Border Springs Baptist Church. She didn”t tell him that the family is still living in the parsonage. She didn”t tell him that they lost nearly everything they owned to smoke and water damage.
She didn”t mention how her aunt was diagnosed with cancer around the same time period or how she struggled to keep her aunt”s spirits up, all while dealing with AP Calculus, AP English, and a full roster of sports.
She didn”t mention that she had been named a Mississippi Scholar, an honor that requires 30 hours of community service, and she didn”t tell of her activities with the St. Paul Independent Methodist youth group. She didn”t mention being a star player on the softball, basketball, and volleyball teams or being named WCBI”s Athlete of the Week and the MaxPrep Player of the Week.
“It”s not easy to go through all that in your senior year and keep focused,” Ruth said Thursday morning. “It was hard to deal with the fire and cancer and other family issues. But you can”t just break down. You have to know God”s on your side.”
She said she looks at life differently now, understanding that anything can happen and life can change in the blink of an eye. But sometimes, instead of life changing for the worse, things slowly get better.
Ruth said she”s looking forward to college, and when she thinks about the unexpected gift of the car, she”s still in shock.
“I was definitely excited about it,” she said. “It doesn”t happen to a lot of people that you just are given a car like that. I”m very appreciative. It makes me feel good to know that I was able to go through all that and everyone noticed.”
As for Jones, he”s just glad he was able to help a worthy senior. He graduated from Caledonia High School in 1969. His children attended school at Caledonia, as did his grandchildren.
“That”s my alma mater,” he said. “I was looking for someone I thought would make it through college who didn”t have a car and probably wouldn”t have a car of their own to go to college.”
As long as Ruth enrolls in at least 12 hours per semester and maintains a 2.0 grade-point average, the car is hers to keep. She”ll receive the title on the day she receives her diploma. If for any reason she fails to maintain her end of the bargain, Jones said the car will be awarded to one of the runners-up.
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 45 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 45 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
