Cherry W. and Hal W. Clements University Honors Program Scholarship

This scholarship was established in 1999 by Cherry W. Clements. Mrs. Clements graduated from Dublin High School at age sixteen was earned a Normal Diploma from Georgia State College for Women. At eighteen, she started teaching at a small, rural school in Cabiness, Georgia where some of the students were older than her. Mrs. Clements was awarded the Rosenwald Fellowship to continue studying at Georgia Southern University where she earned her B.S. in Education in Mathematics. Following graduation, she attended the University of Georgia where she was the first woman to earn an M.S. in Math Education. This is where she met her husband, Hal, a fellow Rosenwald recipient. They married shortly before Hal enlisted in the Navy in 1941. In Norfolk, Virginia, Cherry decoded enemy messaged and had her first child. After World War II, the couple pursued their education careers. Hal became a principal while Cherry was a classroom teacher. Cherry taught at Druid Hills High School for twenty-seven years and she even served as Chair of the Math Department. In 1967 and 1971, she was elected Student-Teacher Achievement Recognition Teacher. In 1972, she was selected Atlanta Woman of the Year in Education. In 1976, she was awarded the Gladys M. Thompson Award for Distinguished Service in Mathematics Education by the Georgia Council of Teachers of Mathematics. While teaching at Druid Hills High School, she was awarded six National Science Foundation Scholarships in Mathematics and attended classes at Emory University and the University of Georgia. She retired in 1976 and passed in 2006. Hal Clements earned his BSEd in 1938 from Georgia Teachers’ College and his MSEd in 1941 from the University of Georgia. He served as a classroom teacher in Polk County and Hinesville, Georgia and was a principal in Guyton, Claxton, Waynesboro, and Cherokee County, Georgia. During his life, he was State Director with the Georgia State Department of Education from 1958 to 1965 until he joined Harper and Row Publishers. He returned to public education in 1975 as Assistant Principal at Renfroe Middle School until his retirement in 1980. Hal passed in 1999. Both he and Cherry were named Georgia Southern University’s Alumni Association’s Alumna(us) of the Year in 1989. This scholarship is available to members of the University Honors Program. First preference will be given to students from Evans County.

The University Honors Program provides a small college atmosphere in the context of a large comprehensive university. The program is designed to foster the development of a critical sense of inquiry, a spirit of creativity, a global perspective and an ethic of civic responsibility. A hallmark of the program is the emphasis on bringing ideas to life through undergraduate research, experiential learning and service-learning opportunities.

Students in the University Honors Program engage in a variety of experiences that facilitate the education of the whole person. While the life of the mind is at the core of the educational experience, we also offer leadership development opportunities, co-curricular events, and service-learning opportunities. In fact, our experiential learning program allows students to apply their knowledge and skills in a real-world environment on campus and in the local community. These kinds of learning opportunities help ideas come to life and make for a more rewarding and meaningful undergraduate education.