Each week, our People & Places feature introduces our readers to a special Lake Highlands leader, volunteer or local resident with a cool story to share.

In honor of our amazing LHHS student-athletes, we're dedicating this week's column to the 2010 Wildcat Club Scholarship recipients.

Since 1985, the Wildcat Club has provided funds to Lake Highlands area athletic programs to help alleviate the deficit in district (RISD) funding. To date, the Club has raised and distributed over one million dollars to LH students.

"We're especially excited to be here this morning," said Wildcat Club President Reggie Boles as he addressed the recipients and their families.

"We are grateful for the donors and supporters of the Wildcat Club who make these scholarships possible."

The first scholarship to be awarded was the Bill Georges Scholarship which is named after the original Athletic Director and football coach at LHHS. This scholarship has provided over $100,000 to LHHS students over the years.

The 2010 Bill Georges Scholarship Honoree is Elizabeth Koepke, based on her outstanding leadership both on the field and in the classroom. Elizabeth played varsity basketball and softball for the Lady 'Cats and is ranked 38th in her class. Elizabeth will attend Abilene Christian University in the fall and is looking forward to putting the $4,000 scholarship to good use.

Next on the program was the Katie Findley Scholarship, which has been given for the last 15 years in the memory of the beloved former mascot at LHHS.

This year, Dwayne Chandler was honored with this $2,000 scholarship. During his junior year, Dwayne suffered a career ending injury which kept him from playing football his senior year.

However, because of his leadership abilities, Dwayne was named a team captain and helped support his Wildcat football teammates throughout the 2009 season. Dwayne, a former student writer for LH Today, will attend TAMU-Commerce in the fall.

Sam Couch and Ricky Zorn were the recipients of the Wildcat Club's Leadership Scholarship this year. Each of these student-athletes will receive a total of $5,000 in scholarship funds.

Sam will be attending Trinity University on an academic scholarship in the fall and will play basketball for the Lady Tigers. She will graduate 33rd in her class with a 98.6 GPA.

Ricky will graduate second in the senior class with a GPA of 102.02 and has made plans to play football for Harvard University in the fall.

A total of eight Wildcat Scholarships were also awarded. Each Wildcat Scholarship is worth $2,000.

Wildcat Scholarship recipients included:

Erin Gosset
Gina Gosset
Chui Kaping
Brandon Mason
Scott Morgan
Donald Myers
Paige Slater
Caroline Henton

LHHS Principal Walter Kelly was also on hand and address the audience.

"The amount of scholarship funds the Wildcat Club has awarded, even in a down economy, is certainly impressive," said Kelly.

"The fact of the matter is our students don't go without something they need. This says a lot about the Lake Highlands community."

"It's amazing to see what these kids have done this year. Congratulations to all these student athletes. We are very proud of you."

To see more photos from the awards ceremony, visit our the LH Today Quick Hits section here.