Howard School student Brooklyn Clay is the first recipient of See Rock City’s Larry Ammons Memorial Scholarship. Rock City created the scholarship in memory of longtime employee and Howard graduate Larry Ammons, who died three years ago.
See Rock City President and CEO Doug Chapin presented Clay with a $2,000 check at The Howard School’s Senior Awards Day in May.
Clay served as a mentor with the Boys and Girls Club of Chattanooga while also founding and managing a nonprofit called God’s Plan for the Poor, which teams up with the local faith community to feed the homeless.
Clay plans to pursue bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in computer science and engineering. She hopes to start a technology company that benefits the local community through education, internships and employment opportunities that reduce the homeless population.
Clay says she’s looking forward to “making waves in an industry that’s largely absent of women” – especially Black women like herself.
Her leadership qualities and dedication to service exemplify the qualities Ammons brought to Rock City, Chapin said during Senior Awards Day. The See Rock City president told Howard’s graduating class how a 14-year-old Ammons hitchhiked to Lookout Mountain to apply for a job at Rock City, where he began a career that lasted more than 40 years.
See Rock City will award its memorial scholarship annually to a promising Howard High School senior who’s enrolled in any of Hamilton County Schools’ Future Ready Institutes, which are programs that offer in-depth instruction in specific career fields.