Abbeville High graduate receives ‘Bea’ Grant Memorial Scholarship

Shalanda Plowden, a recent graduate of Abbeville High School, has been awarded the first Mamie “Bea” Grant Memorial Scholarship of $500.
Shalanda will be attending the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in the fall, majoring in Political Science. She will be taking a pre-law curriculum, and plans to attend law school upon graduation. Her long-term plans are focused on public service in the court system.
Throughout her high school course, Shalanda has done well academically, completing high school with a cumulative 3.62 GPA. But her most outstanding accomplishments have been extra-curricular.
She devoted many hours in her freshman and sophomore years to the speech club. In her sophomore year, she honed her skills on a solo dramatic performance, entitled "The Gift of Tongues," that was inspired by her love for her handicapped younger sister, Asia. After being runner-up in the state competition, she also went on to be awarded first place nationally, in contests that were sponsored by the National Catholic Forensics League.
She explored her long-term interest in government service through various avenues. She ran for and won a position on the youth board of the community-based HEROD Village organization in her sophomore year. In her senior year at AHS, she was class president. She also represented AHS at Girls State, and accomplished the unique feat of being elected Governor of the state!
Talkative, friendly, and with very focused study habits, Shalanda is part of a tight-knit family. She is the daughter of Marc and Yolanda Plowden of Abbeville, who have both strongly supported her academic and extra-curricular efforts. And given her a little ‘push’ at times, as needed. Sister Porsha, 6 years her senior, was her first teacher, helping her learn to read and do simple math before she started school. She will always have a tender part in her heart for her younger sister, Asia.
Her desire to become a lawyer has been with her since she was 10, as has her commitment to being of deep service to her fellow man. She is definitely a unique and well-qualified young lady, and the scholarship committee is happy to be able to assist her with her education.
Mamie Grant, after whom this scholarship was named, served as a teacher in the Vermilion Parish public schools from 1955 to 1985. She passed away in late 2013 after a long illness. “Bea,” as most people knew her, married late (1982) and had no children of her own.
The students in her classes were her ‘children,’ and she taught them with love and concern . . . and discipline, as if they were her very own. Shalanda’s father, Marc, Bea’s nephew, often rode with Aunt Bea to school when she taught at Henry High School. She was happy to see him involved in sports and other activities, but she always checked with him to make sure that he was keeping up with his homework assignments.