By TIM GEARHART

For The Ironton Tribune

FLATWOODS, Ky. – Kody Haddix is the recipient of one of two annual scholarships given by the Kiwanis Club of East Greenup County to Key Club members at Raceland-Worthington High School.

Haddix, daughter of Aaron and Kristin Haddix of Argillite, picked up the $1,000 scholarship check at a Kiwanis Club meeting last week at Giovanni’s Pizza in Flatwoods.

Scholarship chair Lisa Henderson and Kiwanis President Don Golightly made the presentation.

Haddix told Kiwanis members she plans to attend Eastern Kentucky University in the fall and major in aerospace management.

She is currently working on her pilot’s license through the Hanger 9 Foundation at the Ashland Regional Airport in Worthington. She’s completed the classroom portion of the process and now must complete 40 hours of flying. The plane is a single engine Cesna 172, and she will receive college credit through the STEM program upon completion of her training.

“I will forever be grateful to the Ashland Regional Pilots Association for taking a chance on me,” she said.

At college she plans to concentrate on unmanned aircraft systems – Drones. I want to learn to fly drones,” she said. “I want a stable career in a field with positive growth.”

Haddix, who has an older sister Kailyn and a brother A.J., came to Raceland three years ago when her father took a job at an automotive parts supplier in Waverly. House hunting led the family to Argillite and the Raceland school system. The family came here from Tecumseh, Mich.

“Moving to Kentucky my sophomore year of high school was an academic challenge I had to overcome in order to achieve success,” she wrote in her scholarship application.

But once acclimated in her new school, “I realized I had been given the tools at Raceland to reach my academic potential and more. My biggest hurdle, I now recognize, was my biggest blessing,” she wrote.

She joined three school clubs: The Kiwanis sponsored Key Club, Beta Club and the Technical Student Association (TSA). She served as secretary of the Key Club.

She also joined the varsity volleyball team and the track team.

In volleyball she was captain of the Lady Rams and set a school record in assists with 2,147 and scored 155 serving aces, while helping the team win in district competition, and as regional runners up.

In track, she runs the 100 meter dash, the 4×100 relay, the 400 meter dash, and the 4×800 relay. Outside school she enjoys working out in the gym and playing pickleball.

Academically, Haddix has been on the principal’s honor roll and has straight As in college level math and English.

She has worked summers as a lifeguard at Greenbo State Park and in the lodge’s Angler’s Cove Restaurant. She’s currently working at The Branding Shack.