Hammon School Announces Honor Students

High School Principal Mike Higgins has announced that Hammon High School has named three Senior Class Valedictorians and one Salutatorian for the 2020 school year. Delaynie Peters, Ethan Torrance, and Jaylynn Lamb are this year’s Valedictorian and Laurian Sorensen is this year’s Salutatorian.

Delaynie is the daughter of Michael and Shanda Fesmire. Her grandparents are Jim and Beverly Fesmire and David and Sheri Haynes. She has a younger brother, Jaxon. Delaynie has only attended Hammon Schools for two years, but she has definitely made the best of those two years. Besides being one of the Senior Valedictorians, Delaynie has been selected twice for the Five County Academic All-Conference, was the Academic Bowl Team MVP this year, and has been on the Superintendent’s Honor Roll all her high school career. Delaynie made three trips to the State Tournament in softball, was a Girls State Representative last year, a National Qualifier BETA in Math two years, did BETA Portfolio this year, and BETA Quiz Bowl last year. She was Student Council Vice President for three years. Delaynie also took Concurrent classes the last two years and has completed 18 College hours with a 4.00 grade average. Delaynie had planned to pursue a college career in softball, but after an injury she has decided to retire from play and she plans to attend Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina and pursue a degree in Marine Science.

Ethan is the son of Nathan and Jamie Torrance. His grandparents are Curtis and Kay Torrance, Ralph and Sidney Woodrum, and Jerry Barham. He is a 2020 Co-Valedictorian and has had a very active school life in both his studies and in extra-curricular events. Ethan was part of the State Academic Championship Cross Country team and served his class as Class President. He was Senior Homecoming King, on the Superintendent’s Honor Roll, and the Oklahoma and National Honor Societies. Ethan is slated to receive the State FFA Degree and the State FFA Academic Excellence Award. Ethan has participated in baseball, basketball, track, and cross country. He was awarded the 5 County Academic All Star Award this year and the past three years as well. Ethan enjoyed being on the Animal Science Quiz Bowl Team, the Livestock Judging Team, and the Trap Shooting team the past few years. This past year was a very hard year for Ethan. He ruptured his Achilles four games into basketball season and he was devastated. However, this did not slow him down. He became the best teammate, role model, and encourager that the Warriors had. He never gave up and worked to build himself up through intensive surgery and therapy. By the time the Warriors headed to State, Ethan was able to be on the floor a few minutes in those important games and he was able to score a few points each time! Most of all he proved he was a true WARRIOR! Sheer grit and determination got him on the floor and on his way to Oklahoma Wesleyan University on a full-ride scholarship to play basketball for the Eagles. He wants to study Health and Life Sciences and Business Administration. After getting his degree, his ultimate goal is to obtain a Doctorate in Physical Therapy.

Jaylynn is the daughter of Barry Lamb and Robin Lamb. She is the granddaughter of Lynn and Kay Hagerman, Linda Hamilton and the late Tom Hamilton, and Mark and Linda Lamb. She has a younger brother Keagan, who will be an 8th grader next year. Jaylynn is a Co-Valedictorian for the Senior Class. Jaylynn has served her class as a class officer and been on the Superintendent’s Honor Roll four years. Besides being one of the freshman Valedictorians, Jaylynn received the honor of being named to the Hammon High Hall of Fame and is a local member and leader of the Hammon 4-H Club. Jaylynn also served as a county and district 4-H officer over her career and is currently serving as the Roger Mills County 4-H Vice President. She has been a member of the State Honor Society, attended Girls State, is a BETA Quiz Bowl Team National Qualifier and serves as the Hammon BETA Secretary. Jaylynn earned the County 4-H Hall of Fame award last year and she serves as a 4-H State Ambassador this year. Jaylynn has also been the featured speaker at the Veterans Program at the VA Center in Clinton, Oklahoma on Veterans Day the last three years and she has always taken part in our local Veterans Program. This year she placed 1st in the Post and District 15 VFW VOD Speech contests. Jaylynn competed the last four years in OSSAA Speech Competition. She was a State Finalist her Sophomore and Junior year and was honored on the Big Stage at the State Contest. This year she was headed to Regionals in two events when they were cancelled because of COVID 19. A sure testament to her work ethic and talent in speech was when she was selected to win one of 26 slots in Speech/Drama for the State Superintendent’s Award for Arts Excellence this spring. Jaylynn’s award was chosen from students from the entire state of Oklahoma with no class distinctions. This is the top of the line award for any Fine Arts student! Jaylynn plans to attend the University of Tennessee and get a degree in Political Science and then on to Law School.

This year’s Salutatorian is Laurian Sorensen. Laurian is the daughter of Annie Sorensen and granddaughter of Jan Sorensen. Laurian has been a Student of the Month , on the Principal’s and Superintendent’s Honor Rolls, and was a Masonic Student of Today. Laurian is a member of BETA and served the last two years as the Filmer for Warrior TV. Laurian is a very hard worker. Early last semester Laurian decided she wanted to get some experience working with younger children so she worked as a Head Start Class Assistant and a Kindergarten/1st grade P.E. Class Assistant several hours a day. She really enjoyed being around the younger students. Besides serving as an Assistant and keeping up with her school studies and activities, Laurian also completed two college courses and held down two jobs. Laurian plans to go to SWOSU at Weatherford and pursue a major in Nursing and minor in Early Childhood education. Laurian said she has been taught throughout her life that to get what you want in life, you have to work for it! It looks like she is doing exactly that!

Giving

GIVING…Security State Bank Vice President Josh Haven presents a check to Ann Merritt for the Christmas Food Basket Giving Tree Project. Also pictured is Laura

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Honored

HONORED…Upper Washita Conservation District Chairman Tony Tracy presents Deanna LeGrand with a certificate of recognition from the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts for fifteen years

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