VIN'S PEOPLE: A salute for Manatee County's National Merit finalists
A bow to Southeast High senior Alexander Aldama-Apodaca, recipient of a prestigious National Merit Scholarship, an annual stipend ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 per year.
Alexander, who earned a Pepsico Foundation Scholarship, was one of eight Manatee area finalists. The remaining seven are among 7,500 high school seniors still eligible for $28 million of National Merit Scholarships. They are Southeast’s Madison Barendse, Samuel Maurer and Jonathan Xavioer, Braden River’s Liam Wilford, Lakewood Ranch’s Sam Leavy and Palmetto’s Coral Bell as well as IMG Academy’s Brooke Pedersen.
Winners will be announced through July.
• That’s one year of wedded bliss for Maryanne and Michael Ruberton.
• Salutes to Deputies Ryan Emkey and Micah Osornio, recent recipients of the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office Life Saving Award. Responding to a domestic battery call where a man was making suicidal statements, they found him hanging from a tree. Emkey quickly lifted the man, Osornio cut the rope and they lowered him to the ground where he regained consciousness.
• That wily ol’ stork is enroute for Victoria and Daniel Plummer in August. They’ll name son Bayne’s baby sister, Cori Rose.
• Big ups to Manatee PAL’s third-grade Thunder basketball team on its first AAU tournament championship. Coached by Sara and Jamaal Sanders, they are Courtney Benton Jr., Amari Bounds, Chandler Davis, Ishmael Dunbar, Jaylen George, Yankel Quinones, Jaydon Roden, Dominick Sanders, Dennis Walker and Elijah Williams.
• And well done to Lakewood Ranch High sophomore Angel Potter, whose research paper on American women’s right to vote took third at the Florida History Fair in Tallahassee.
• The one and only John Horne is 61 years young.
• Among the charming little girls on the Conquistadorables Court during the DeSoto Heritage Festival were Gracyn Ellarose Carpenter, Emily Rose Dorics, Kinley Blair Giltner, Whitney Jean Marello, Blakely Rea McMahan, Maggie Clare O’Reilly, Ella Grace Parcels, London Paisley Thacker, Tenley Elizabeth Wenzel and Logan Alexandria Wheeler.
• Schuyler Counihan is 39. Again.
• Keisha Washington, a field deputy in field services and collections with the Manatee County Tax Collector, is its Employee of the Second Quarter.
She’s been with the MCTC almost 21 years.
• And fellow Lakeland Muskie Peter Rutledge is 75 years young.
• Braden River High’s flag football team’s perfect regular season (10-0) did not include a District Eight title as yours truly wrote recently. That title went to Hillsborough County’s Newsome High Wolves who dealt Coach Amanda Porco’s Pirates their only loss in the district playoff semifinals. The River still finished an impressive 11-1.
Vin’s People runs Sundays. Email Vin Mannix at vinspeople@gmail.com Or call 941-962-5944. Twitter: @vinmannix.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: VIN MANNIX: A salute for Manatee's National Merit Scholarship finalists
