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Troy resident Addison (Addi) Garrott was understandably excited when she got a call from the Jimmy Rane Foundation this spring.

“When I received the news I was a 2021 scholarship recipient, I was in complete shock. I couldn’t believe that I had actually been selected to receive such a prestigious scholarship,” Garrott said.

A 2021 graduate of Pike Liberal Arts School, this fall Garrott plans to attend Auburn University, where she will study Speech, Language, & Hearing Sciences for Speech – Language Pathology. She is one of 48 students from 14 states selected to receive a scholarship from the foundation this year.

Garrott is looking forward to a future where she can make a difference in the lives of patients she encounters as a speech language pathologist.

“Through community service and extracurricular activities, I have discovered that God has blessed me with the wonderful ability of communicating well with others. I believe that He has called me to help others, and I believe this career is the perfect way to do so,” she said.

Among her other honors and recognitions, Garrott was selected as 2021 Pike County Distinguished Young Woman, Alabama Girls State Representative and Pike County Chamber of Commerce Junior Ambassador. She was also a member of National Honor Society, Varsity and Junior Varsity Cheer Squad, and Headmaster’s Advisory Committee. Other activities include being a member of Interact Club, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Calculus Club, Spanish Club, Pep Club, Drama Club, Patriot Pal Mentorship Program, Twilighter’s Social Service Club, and SheBANG Clog and Dance Company.

The Jimmy Rane Foundation is dedicated to providing college scholarships for deserving students and strengthening communities through education projects and grants.

The foundation has awarded 510 college scholarships since it was established in 2000,  for a total of value of over $5.2 million. These scholarships are for eight semesters, not just for one year, which makes them even more critical to the success of recipients. Foundation scholars are attending universities all over the nation, and many have now graduated and become engineers, teachers, nurses, accountants, and several students are currently in medical school and law school.

Jimmy Rane, founder of Abbeville-based Great Southern Wood Preserving, Incorporated, traditionally hosts an annual golf tournament as the single fund-raising event for the foundation drawing both corporate and individual sponsors. For the second year, precautions related to the COVID-19 pandemic led the foundation to the decision to not host its annual Jimmy Rane Charity Golf Tournament and awards banquet. However, the generous support of sponsors made it possible for the foundation, now in its 21st year, to award the highest number of scholarships to date—eclipsing the forty given in 2020 which, at that time, was the highest awarded to date.   

For more information about the foundation and to apply for the scholarship in future years, visit www.jimmyranefoundation.org.  The foundation’s Facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/jimmyranefoundation.