Photo by Katie Turpen
Brock Belcher
Shades Mountain Christian’s Brock Belcher has been selected as a Bryant-Jordan Scholar-Athlete Regional winner. Photo by Katie Turpen.
Shades Mountain Christian’s Brock Belcher has been selected as a Bryant-Jordan Scholar-Athlete Regional winner.
Belcher, who has signed to play soccer at Wofford College, is the son of David and Alisa Belcher. He is the first male athlete from SMCS to sign a Division I scholarship. He was awarded the Ben Wofford Academic and Leadership and Soccer Scholarship to Wofford.
During his time at Shades Mountain, he has lettered four years in basketball and soccer and one year in football and also been Student Government Association president. He has a 4.0 grade point average, and is third in his class.
He also plays club soccer for Birmingham United Soccer Association.
The Bryant-Jordan Student-Athlete Program announced its 104 regional winners in March.
A total of 52 seniors, eight each from the AHSAA Classes 1A through 6A and four in Class 7A, were selected as Scholar-Athlete regional winners and 52 were chosen in the Student-Achievement division. Each student selected was nominated by their respective high schools. For the first time since 1988, the total number has expanded from the previous 96 total. Eight additional student-athletes will be recognized due to the addition of Class 7A, which has 32 total schools, by the AHSAA this school year. Approximately 60-64 schools comprise each of the other six classifications.
A committee of school principals chose the area winners. A committee of school administrators in each region then selected the regional winners. The overall winners will be selected by a statewide committee of school administrators and state business leaders.
All 104 will be recognized at the 2015 Bryant-Jordan Banquet set for Birmingham’s Sheraton Hotel Ballroom on April 13. Each regional winner will receive a $2,500 scholarship with class winners receiving an additional $3,000 scholarship. The overall Larry D. Striplin Jr. Scholar-Athlete and the overall Ken and Betty Joy Blankenship Achievement Award state winners will receive an additional $3,000 each.
Regional winners are also eligible to receive several other scholarships that will be awarded by 13 Alabama four-year colleges and 13 Alabama community colleges participating in the program. The 13 colleges participating include: Auburn University, Auburn-Montgomery, Jacksonville State, Miles College, Samford, Troy University, University of Alabama, University of Alabama at Birmingham, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Montevallo, North Alabama, South Alabama and West Alabama.
The 13 community colleges are: Bevill State, Calhoun, Central Alabama, Chattahoochee Valley, Gadsden State, Jefferson State, Lawson State, Northeast Alabama, Northwest-Shoals, Shelton State, Snead State, Wallace-Dothan and Wallace-Hanceville.
Several special scholarships are also presented annually including the Dr. Gaylon McCollough Medical Scholarship ($2,500) earmarked for a selected regional winner who plans to go into the medical field, and the Herman “Bubba” Scott Coach’s Scholarship ($2,500) given to a selected regional winner who plans to go into teaching and coaching.
The Auburn Football Lettermen and the University of Alabama “A” Club Educational and Charitable Foundation also present scholarships to selected regional winners who plan to attend AU or UA.
In addition, each school that has an individual classification winner will receive a $2,000 cash award. Approximately $1 million in scholarships are awarded annually in the nationally acclaimed program named for Paul “Bear” Bryant and Ralph “Shug” Jordan. The program is now in its 30th year.
Belcher was selected from Class 1A, Region 5.
