The National Honor Society attended Montevallo’s eighth annual Mayor’s Breakfast, hosted by mayor Hollie Cost, Friday, Oct. 13 at The American Village. The event gives the city an opportunity to recognize citizens of Montevallo who have contributed to the community. Awards presented included the Spirit of Montevallo Award, Excellence in Education Awards, and Hometown Hero Awards.

“It’s just a great opportunity to recognize citizens, current and past, and to celebrate them, but also for our youth to see all the true heroes that have come out of Montevallo,” Cost said.  “It allows them to see a great source of pride in their community.  Montevallo is truly great.  When we say ‘We Are Montevallo’, we now know what that means by looking at those heroes.”

The Hometown Heroes Award was given to people who have contributed in the community. The Hometown Heroes Awards for this year included David King, Montevallo volunteer fire fighter; Kathlyn Lathion, retired special education teacher; Maurice Valentine, senior pastor of Life Changing Christian Center; and James S. Day, Professor of History at the University of Montevallo.

The Excellence in Education Award is an award that is given to a faculty member of each school.  This year’s Excellence in Education Awards included a Lifetime Commitment to Education Award that was given to Jimmy Jones who served as the first principal at Montevallo Middle after integration and was the principal of Montevallo Elementary for many years after.  Montevallo High assistant principal Kevin Raybon was also recognized, as well as Montevallo Elementary reading coach Meredith Smith and Montevallo Middle teacher Carolyn Nelson.

“It was an extreme honor to win the award, basically on a day when coach Jimmy Jones was awarded the Lifetime Commitment to Education Award,” Raybon said. “It was nice to be honored by the mayor, in her community, and be there with a bunch of former and current students, parents, and just to have the opportunity to be there with other individuals from the community to show how important local education is.”   

Montevallo High School’s SGA president, Alasha Reed,  was also recognized with SGA president Kennedy Reaser from Montevallo Elementary and SGA president Dani Blake from Montevallo Middle School

“It felt good and it was an honor to be recognized for my hard work I have put in through my high school career,” Reed said.