TIFTON — Tift County High salutatorian Stephen Denham has been awarded the 2024 James E. Dove Memorial Scholarship.

The graduating TCHS student received the scholarship, given to academically successful and community engaged students in honor of Tifton’s first natural gas superintendent James Dove, at the start of the May 20 city council meeting.

City Manager Emily Beeman explained that Denham had earned a 99.85 GPA in his final year at the high school, and would receive a $1,000 scholarship from the city gas enterprise fund. She invited Ernest Dove, James Dove’s son, to present the check to Denham.

Beeman reported that Denham would be putting his new scholarship funds towards an education at Mercer University, where he plans to study and pursue a pharmaceutical career.