NEWS SOURCE

March 1, 2007, will forever be etched in the minds and memories of those who experienced the F-4 tornado that took the lives of eight Enterprise High School students and an Enterprise resident and destroyed the high school and an elementary school.
The families of “The Enterprise Eight” students who were killed that day have honored the memories of their sons and daughters for the past two years by recognizing an Enterprise High School student with a memorial scholarship.
The “In Memory of Enterprise Eight Scholarship Fund” is again raising money for the scholarship by commemorating the upcoming memorial honoring the students whose lives were taken in the tornado
Donna Tompkins, mother of Michael Tompkins, said, “It is the desire of the families of the eight students to commemorate the memorial with T-shirts to help raise scholarship funds to recognize an all-around student who has personal excellence and student involvement in their school and community.”
Tompkins said to the T-shirts featuring the memorial will help t raise scholarship funds in memory of her son and the seven other students who died.
“The money collected from the sale of the T-shirts will go towards the scholarship,” she said. “The shirts are only available at Enterprise T-Shirts, which is located on Glover Avenue.”
Tompkins said the parents of the “Enterprise Eight” wanted to honor their children by having a scholarship fund to aid Enterprise High School students and to also have the memorial commemorated on a T-shirt.
Enterprise City Schools Assistant Superintendent Bob Phares said a dedication of the EHS 8 Memorial is being planned.
“We are waiting on the bronze plaques to come in now,” Phares said. “Originally, we had planned on a memorial dedication on March 1 this year, but we’d have to postpone it.”
The memorial, featuring with eight brick pillars, is on the site of the former third hall of the high school and it stands behind the newly built Hillcrest Elementary School.
The memorial will be an ongoing tribute to honor the deceased Enterprise High School students, who now are known worldwide.
The bronze plaques will honor Michael Tompkins, 17; Jamie Ann Vidensek, 17; Michelle Wilson, 16; Katie Strunk, 16; Michael Bowen, 16; A. J. Jackson, 16; Ryan Mohler, 17; and Peter Dunn, 16.
Applications for the memorial scholarship are available at the Enterprise High School office at Enterprise State Community College.
To apply for the memorial scholarship, Tompkins said, “students are asked to write a summary of what March 1 means to them. There are other things, such as community involvement. We have a grid to go by with no names on them, so we don’t know who the student is until they are chosen.”
The families of the Enterprise Eight decided, Tompkins said, to continue the scholarship fund until the 2007 kindergartners graduate in 2019.
The T-shirts cost $10 for short sleeve; $11 for 2XL and up and long sleeve shirts are $15; and $17 for 2XL and up. The shirts are available at Enterprise T-Shirts on Glover Avenue or call347-3675 to order the shirts..

“In Memory of Enterprise Eight Scholarship Fund”
EHS 8 Memorial T-shirts for sale
Enterprise T-Shirts
Glover Avenue
Enterprise
T-shirts are $10 and up.

DOTHAN EAGLE