Sportsmanship

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Landon Smith

Ashland A-C Central

Principal: Mrs. Candi Shaver

The Board of Directors Division J recognizes Landon Smith as the Scholar Attitude Award winner for his academic achievements, leadership, and participation in interscholastic activities.

Landon has been named to honor roll or high honor roll throughout junior high. He says this achievement is his proudest moment. “It shows I was working hard and proves that I devote a lot of time to school,” says Landon.

When he’s not studying, Landon can be found playing basketball or football, playing the trombone in band, or singing in chorus. Through sports, Landon says he has learned to be a leader, to have discipline, and the value of working as a team. Exercise has also strengthened his back, which is important because Landon was diagnosed with scoliosis and wore a back brace to keep the condition from worsening. Wearing the brace for 20 hours every day was difficult, he admits. “Adjusting to wearing a brace and having people know about it was a hard point in my life,” he says. But he devoted himself to wearing it so he wouldn’t have to endure a difficult surgery later in life.

Landon admires his father more than anyone else. “He has taught me that nothing comes without hard work,” Landon explains. “My dad believes in doing everything to the best of your ability and that nothing is handed to you in life.” Landon says he has learned a lot of skills through their shared experiences, including the restoration of a 1946 Farmall H tractor. Landon plans to follow his father and his mother by attending Western Illinois University after high school. The fields of agriculture science and agriculture engineering interest him. “I think science is fun,” says Landon. “Ag engineering sounds good because I like making things and figuring out how things work.”

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