Pinnacle Classical Academy graduates receive scholarships, awards

The 38 seniors of Pinnacle Classical Academy’s class of 2023 were awarded a total of $7.3 million in four-year academic merit and athletic scholarship awards, averaging nearly $200,000 in cumulative awards per graduate. At their senior signing ceremony, held during their senior scholarship and awards night, members of the class of 2023 signed their names on placards representing the college or branch of the military they will be entering.

The following seniors received local scholarships and awards:

• Clary Construction

Scholarship: Rosemary Costner

• Classical Foundations

Program Scholarships: Lydia Canipe, Sarah Carpenter, Emily Evans, Owen Slagle

• Commissioner Ronnie Whetstine Scholarship: Logan Christopher

• Curtiss Wright Sons and Daughters Scholarship: Sarah Carpenter

• Dearmin Family Farm Bureau Scholarship: Melissa Morehead

• Dr. Stephen F. Grinton

Scholarship: Emma Fletcher

Essay Competition: Amy Brooks

• Nikki Korson Scholarship: Emma Fletcher

• No. 3 Ruritan Scholarship: Emma Sarratt

• Pinnacle Award: Rosemary Costner

• Prospere Audent Scholarship: Kody Lineberger

• Senator Debbie Clary

Scholarship: Amaysa Beaver, Kody Lineberger

• Shelby Alarm Scholarship: Sarah Carpenter

• Shelby Exchange Club

ACE Award: Amauria Archie

• Troy Sewell True Grit

Scholarship: Sarah Carpenter

Counselor at Gardner-Webb University, presented Amaysa Beaver with an $80,000 scholarship and Aiden Leon with a $72,000 scholarship. The following seniors received special recognition:

• Class valedictorian: Emma Sarratt

• Class salutatorian: Amy Brooks maJo Eskridge, Emily Evans, Aiden Leon

• Cum laude: Anna Craig, Ethan Jaynes, John Lowry, Brayden McCombs

• National Honor Soci- ety: Amaysa Beaver, David

Briceno, Amy Brooks, Lydia

Canipe, Sarah Carpenter, Rosemary Costner, Emma

• Reagan Leadership Medal: Amy Brooks

Six members of the class of 2023 also received national recognition from the College

Board:

• Amy Brooks: National Rural and Small Town Award

• Rosemary Costner: National Rural and Small Town Award

Fletcher, Mason Guffey, Melissa Morehead, Carmen Newton, Emma Sarratt, Owen Slagle, Jacey Stroup, Erin Wall

• Citizenship Award: Amy

Brooks

• Boys State: Mason

Guffey, Kody Lineberger

• Emma Fletcher: National Rural and Small Town Award

• Aiden Leon: National African American Recognition Award, National Hispanic Recognition Award, National Rural and Small Town Award

• Aspire

Scholarship: Emma Fletcher

• Cahill-Caunt Scholarship: Owen Slagle

• Caldwell Family Scholarship: Jacey Stroup

• Excite Tech Scholarship: Owen Slagle

• Ingles Markets Scholarship: Lydia Canipe

• Math in the Real World

Scholarship: Mason Guffey

• National School Choice

Aiming Outdoorsmen Toward Christ

By Gar y Miller Gary Miller

• Volare Audent Scholarship: Lydia Canipe

In addition, Benjamin Flournoy, Senior Admissions

• Summa cum laude: Amaysa Beaver, David Briceno, Amy Brooks, Lydia Canipe, Sarah Carpenter, Kaleigh Clark, Rosemary Costner, Emma Fletcher, Maddie Fletcher, Mason Guffey, Kody Lineberger, Carmen Newton, Emma Sarratt, Owen Slagle, Jacey Stroup, Erin Wall

• Magna cum laude: Em-

• Girls State: Emma Sar- ratt

• Governor's School: Owen Slagle

• Emma Sarratt: National Rural and Small Town Award

• Owen Slagle: National Rural and Small Town Award

GARY MILLER

Let’s talk about doubt. We all have it. We all use it. Even in the most certain areas, doubt is always present. I can have a trail cam picture of a certain buck that shows up at a certain time of the day, and set up there on the following day, and still have doubt the buck will show up. I can catch fish for five straight days off one point, and can show up the next day, and doubt will still rear its head to play with my head about the possibility of a sixth straight day. Pure doubt itself is agnostic. It only moves to belief or unbelief after more knowledge. For instance, I may want to buy a new bow and want the fastest one on the market. Right now, I have doubts as to which one that is. And not only that, but I also really don’t care what brand it is.

I am agnostic. I have one parameter. It must be the fastest. When I find out (gain more knowledge) I move from doubt to belief in one and unbelief in another. Doubt is defined as hesitation or uncertainty between two positions. It is a fixed position between two or more points. Biblical doubt is confusing sometimes. Sometimes the original text refers to unbelief and not pure doubt. Sometimes, there is an honest question about it, as to when Jesus asked Peter, “Why did you doubt?” Here’s what I want you to know. Don’t let doubt cause you to doubt. Let me write that again. Don’t let doubt cause you to doubt. Let me illustrate. In the scriptures, there was a paralyzed man who sat at the pool of Bethesda. He had sat there for 38 years waiting to be put into the pool when the waters were stirred, thinking he would be healed. And for 38 years he wasn’t the first one in. And then Jesus healed him. But he had 38 years of minding-filling belief about his physical state. Now he is healed but must lay down each night for sleep. I wonder how long – for how many months or years, he opened his eyes in the morning and thought “I wonder, can I still walk? I wonder, is the miracle still effective? I wonder, is the healing still working? I wonder, are Jesus’ words still good?” Doubt. Now some would criticize his doubt, but his doubt was legitimate. It came from a mindset that had been established for 38 years! It would take a while to change this.

But if we looked at his heart. When HE looked deep in his heart. He knew. He believed. And he got up another day, until his life was over.

What about you. Have you let the devil or others, or even yourself, tell you your doubt has hindered God’s desire and ability to bring that miracle into your life? Here’s how you can know. Look at your heart. Listen to your heart. When it comes to Jesus, and your belief in him and his goodness and his ability…. What does your heart say?

Don’t listen to your mind. The Apostle Paul said, “Take every thought captive.” Why? Because he knew that some of us have decades of a faulty mindset and it may take years for our mind to match our heart. But until then, keep chasing away those thoughts, and one day you’ll just get up without ever even remembering the days you couldn’t walk. God is still the same. Don’t let doubt cause you to doubt.