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If you have been to a Lanett High School sporting event, club meeting or really anything LHS in the past four years, chances are you saw MaKiah White. White is heavily involved in her school, one of the many reasons the senior was named the class salutatorian. 

Some may be surprised that White is not originally from Lanett. She has been a Panther since freshman year and has so thoroughly exemplified the values of the school that she was named Miss LHS this year. 

Just in her senior year, White served as the captain of both the Volleyball and Basketball teams, and currently throws shot put for the Track and Field team. Her other leadership roles include the student body president and FCCLA Vice President, while also being a member of Beta Club and the Honor Society. 

“I try to be,” White said on being involved at school. “Especially to expand leadership potential and leadership roles. I like helping people.”

White will be attending Auburn University in the Fall and hopes to study Psychology. 

“[Psychology] has always been something I was interested in, just the brain, how it works, how it deals with our emotions,” White said. “I want to focus on sports psychology…I’d like to help athletes improve their mental health because I know it’s something that’s often put on the back burner.”

When asked what she will miss most about LHS and Lanett when moving to campus, White said, “The people, how they support each other.”

Some of those people are her Lanett teachers. She listed Lydia Crenshaw, Octavia Johnson, Sgt. Terrence Staples, Principal Nannette Cullwell and Deidre Frederick, as a few of the educators and staff that she leans on. 

White counsels younger students to remember why they are in school. 

“You want to have fun, you want to get involved in things, but remember that you’re in school to graduate, do your best and make your parents proud,” she said.

The class president has seemed to do just that. She said, smiling, her parents were “very proud” when she told them about being named salutatorian.

“It was definitely a proud moment, given what I’ve gone through in high school, or things that may have set me back…But I’m proud of myself for overcoming.”

While it can be easy to find distractions in and outside of the classroom, White said it is important to have forethought. 

“I think oftentimes, especially like our generation, they don’t think school is as important, or they don’t think it gets them anywhere. Like you always hear, especially in math class, when am I going to use this? What do I need this for? But math is problem-solving skills, real life skills. It’s giving you the tools to work through the issues that you will face later on in life,” White reflected. “There’s a lesson in everything, even if you don’t see it now, you will see and you’ll think back, I’m glad I went through that in high school or in elementary because it really helped.”