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At the June 11 Troy Rotary Club Meeting, Goshen graduate Christopher “CJ” Thompson was recognized for being the recipient of the 2024 Nolan Hatcher Service Above Self Scholarship.

The scholarship is presented annually to a graduating senior in Pike County, gifting that senior with a $1,000 scholarship. The applicants are graded on four different categories. A total of 40 percent of the grade is based on the applicant’s community service activities, civil engagement, volunteer work experience and scholastic and extra curricular activities and awards. The student must also write an essay describing their service, which counts for 35 percent of the grade, while 15 percent of the grade is based on the applicant’s GPA and ACT scores and the final 10 percent of the grade, is based on letters of recommendation.

Thompson was a member of the Goshen football team but was also the president of the Goshen High Senior Class, Student Council, Goshen chapter of the Future Farmers of America (FFA) and National Honors Society. He was also a state officer and national delegate for the FFA and was the 2023 Pike County Farm City Male of the Year. He did all of this while working three jobs and volunteering more than 60 hours of community service during the 2023-2024 school year alone.

“I believe that providing leadership within these organizations has helped me grow as a person, as well as give back to the organizations that have given me so much,” Thompson said in his essay that he read to the Rotary Club.

Thompson pointed to his service with the National and State FFA Organization as a big point of pride for him.

“Of all the organizations, the most impactful for me was the National FFA Organization,” Thompson said. “FFA has allowed me to find my voice and understand I am valued in the agricultural industry. Having not grown up on a farm, and being an African American, I am not what most would think of when they consider a traditional agricultural student.

“I am the first African American state officer to come out of Goshen High School FFA and I am the most recent state officer in over 60 years to be a resident of Pike County, Alabama.”

Thompson has already earned his associate’s degree from Enterprise State Community College and will be attending Auburn University in the fall.