David Crockett senior Allison Flanary has accepted an invitation to take part in the Haslam Scholarship Program during her four years at the University of Tennessee. Photo by Collin Brooks
By Collin Brooks
It wasn’t exactly a fun Sunday for David Crockett senior Allison Flanary as she waited for a call she’d been hoping to receive for some time. But at the end of the day, Flanary’s bright smile on Monday morning let people know she’d gotten the answer she wanted.
Flanary received the call at about 12:06 p.m.on Sunday that she had been rewarded with an invitation into the Haslam Scholars Program which will allow her to attend the University of Tennessee.
“It’s definitely where I want to go,” Flanary said. “It’s just a really big honor to be awarded such a prestigious opportunity.”
It may be a destination that her parents — Bill and Lavon Flanary —have been prepping their daughter to go for a some time, considering the UT-themed room inside of their house; punctuated by a football covered in a glass case by former football coach Phil Fulmer.
“We’ve got so much (Tennessee stuff), I’m prepared,” she said through a smile.
It is the second year in-a-row that a Crockett student has been awarded with an invitation to the Haslam Scholars Program. Last year Cole Tipton received the honor and Flanary said that her prior friendship with Tipton helped her get a better understanding of what all went into the process.
“It was great to have him there and he really calmed my nerves and talked me through things,” Flanary said.
More than the money the scholarship provides, the opportunities are what Flanary is so excited about.
“Aside from the money and the housing, that is great, but the program offers this mobility around campus and around academia,” Flanary said. “With the Haslam, you get better resources, better access to research and the classes may be a bit more intense, and that is good. It will be easier for me to get into graduate school.”
Another perk is a study abroad trip to Scotland during the sophomore year for the recipients.
“That is an opportunity I would not have had, hadn’t I gotten the scholarship,” Flanary said. “It’s the little things that accumulate into this one massive opportunity that I just couldn’t turn down.”
Flanary is one of 15 students who will be accepted into the program which started in 2008. The program provides unique in-depth academic enrichment programs for top students at UT to complete independent research, study abroad and become community leaders.
Getting the chance to bond with so many people her age, with similar goals, was something different for Flanary.
“I got to meet a lot of really cool students my age and they were really bright and involved and having that many of us in one room is a little overwhelming for a while,” Flanary said. “Now I get to know them for the next four years. There are going to be 15 of us living together and learning together for four years. And I can’t wait to do that. I can’t wait to see where this takes me.”
Her hopes are to major in French with a possible minor in education and possibly pick up another minor in English or agriculture. Her dream is to be a French teacher, which is something that she really has a passion for.
“I feel like I lucked out in that way, in that I found something that I truly love, that I can do,” Flanary said. “I have the resources to go down this path and to share it with other people at the same time by teaching.”
