MACON — On June 18, Earnest Eichelberger of Macon will host the fifth annual scholarship banquet, in honor of his son, Micheal Sherrod Eichelberger, who died unexpectedly in 2005, six weeks before his senior prom.
Earnest Eichelberger will award students with $3,000 in scholarships at the banquet.
Micheal was a regular at school science fairs. This is the first year students at Noxubee County High School have made it to the science fair state finals since Micheal”s death, so Earnest Eichelberger is especially excited about this year”s event.
“He was really good at math and science, so we started doing a scholarship every year,” Eichelberger said.
The scholarships aren”t just given to local students. Earnest Eichelberger said he has given awards to kids in Chicago and Virginia. Many people still don”t know the scholarship exists, so he doesn”t get a lot of applications, he noted.
Earnest Eichelberger began the scholarship as a way to make his son a role model for other students and encourage them to follow his work ethic and achievement.
“He never got in trouble in school, and he was always on the honor roll,” Eichelberger said.
Micheal was a portrait of civic involvement. He participated in school science fairs from kindergarten through his senior year, and he was active in the NAACP. He achieved the rank of cadet command chief master sergeant in JROTC. He was a junior deacon at his church, Mt. Pleasant, where he was also a member of the choir.
The 10-page scholarship application is rigorous. Students must maintain a 3.0 GPA, be highly involved in the community and meet special criteria that mirrors what Micheal Eichelberger himself did.
“I hope they develop themselves like Micheal did,” Eichelberger said of the students he has awarded with the scholarship.
The Rev. Willie J. Matthew of Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church in Tupelo will be the guest speaker; tickets for the banquet will not cost more than $12 and will be sold at the door.
The banquet is slated for June 18 at 6:30 p.m. at the Macon Civic Center. A high school senior social will be held immediately after.
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