(From left) Faith Wheeler, Rhett Reid, Akayshia Smith, Landry Tyson, Maddie Millsap, Casey Bass, Maddy Ray, Amy Sprague, Nathan Valenzuela and Jennifer Lopez-Cervantes were all recognized for their selection by the John and Deborah Gillis Foundation as Hopkins County Bright Star Scholars Students from five county high schools were recognized Tuesday night as the very first Hopkins County Bright Star Scholars. Honorees include Akayshia Smith,Cumby ISD; Faith Wheeler and Amy Sprague, North Hopkins ISD; Nathan Valenzuela, Saltillo ISD; Casey Bass, Sulphur Bluff ISD; and Jennifer Lopez-Cervantes, Maddie Millsap, Madelyn Ray, Rhett Reid and Landry Tyson, Sulphur Springs ISD. Each of the 10 students were awarded a $4,000 per semester scholarship from the John and Deborah Gillis Foundation, renewable for up to eight semesters, to pay for college, up to total of $32,000 each. Any Bright Star Scholar who graduates college in less than four years can continue to apply the rest of their award, $4,000 per semester through the full fourth year or eight semesters toward graduate school, if they choose to pursue a master’s degree or higher. The selection process was difficult due to the high caliber of students applying for the scholarships, but using the rubric scale established to evaluate each application and part of the process, they believe the best choices were selected, according to John Gillis and Foundation Executive Director Robin Schrode. “This is a wonderful group of students that interviewed. It was so hard to pick just 10,” said John Gillis during a recognition...