A rose to the Columbus High School football team and its 2015 season. The Falcons went 8-4 and, for the first time in school history, hosted a playoff game. The team fell to Clinton High School — 56-42 — in that game, but, oh, what a season.
The team is responding to coach Randal Montgomery and the atmosphere at the Falcons’ home games this year were entertaining and loud. We’re looking forward to 2016 and what’s in store. More importantly, we are proud of those student athletes.
A rose to the Columbus Police Department, Columbus Fire & Rescue, the Columbus Municipal School District and the dozens of volunteers who took part in the annual Turkey Drive last week. The drive — which helps get Thanksgiving Day meals to people in the community — is an event the police department has put together for 21 years. There were other efforts last week, too: Locals who took part in Operation Christmas toys collected roughly 25,000 boxes of toys and Mississippi University for Women coordinated Thanksgiving meals. Roses to them, as well.
Helping out neighbors during tough times is something Americans pride themselves on, and Columbus residents are no exception.
Thanksgiving is about slowing down to recognize and appreciate what we have in our family and friends. Knowing that there are so many in our community who are willing to take their time to help folks they do not know makes us smile.
A rose to Ericka M. Wheeler, the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science graduate who recently was chosen to be one of 32 U.S. men and women who will enter Oxford University in England next fall as a Rhodes Scholar.
Wheeler, after attending Greenwood High School in the Delta, spent her junior and senior years at MSMS in Columbus.
She is a senior at Millsaps College now, majoring in English and history. She is the first African-American woman from Mississippi to be named a Rhodes scholar. We wish her well on her journey and she makes us proud.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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