Andrew Edmondson, Union County High School Class of 2021 Graduate, applied for every scholarship he found available, including one offered by the Union County Opry, and his efforts truly paid off. Edmondson received several scholarships to cover most of the expense of attending college in the Fall. When asked what the requirements are for receiving scholarships, he chuckled, “I don’t really remember, I just took one of every scholarship application available and followed the instructions! It’s not really that hard; it tells you exactly what to do, you just have to do it.”

Edmondson is like most young folks, eager to finish high school and get started on the rest of his life. Upon entering high school, he had no idea what career path he wanted to take, but he did know that he wanted to take advantage of the Tennessee Promise program. As Edmondson put it: “If the program is going to pay for it, why not take advantage of the opportunity?”

His mother, Beth Edmondson, teaches Health Science at Union County High School and his father, Kris Edmondson, is a local electrician. Having worked with his father over the last few years, Edmondson decided in his junior year that he —like his father—enjoys and has a knack for electrical work so he is pursuing the training he needs to follow in his father’s footsteps. He is enrolled at Walters State Community College (https://ws.edu/home/) and will begin this Fall working on a two-year degree in Electrical Engineering Technology, with concentration in the Electromechanical curriculum. Edmondson chose Walters State because he liked it best of the places he visited. From there, he hopes to join the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (https://www.ibew.org/), which assists with job placement.

Edmondson has an impressive perspective on his future and life in general. When asked if he had a personal credo or motto he followed, he stated, “I’m pretty easy-going, just try to go with the flow, and when things don’t go my way, I just try to weather it out or try to make it better.” As for the future, Edmondson plans to get a good job, buy a house and stay local. He wants his community to know, “…I’m glad I’ve been raised here my whole life, I love it here; I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”

Edmondson is not an “all work and no play” kind of guy. He loves riding jet skis with his dad, jumping waves and doing tricks, even falling off occasionally; he educated me on stand-up jets skis versus the seated version. He credits his great-grandfather with the expression, “If you’re not getting wet, you’re not having fun!”

You can learn more about Tennessee Promise online at https://www.tn.gov/tnpromise. There are many resources for scholarships that allow our youth to attend a college or technical school, such as the TN.GOV website (https://www.tn.gov/collegepays/financial-aid.html).