DeKalb County High School recognized its student, parents, and teacher for the month of September last Friday afternoon. Each person honored was presented with a certificate and a gift card for this month’s sponsor, Twisted Oaks.

Lucian Mcjunkins was named Student of the Month, which is voted on by the teachers at DCHS. Lucian is a 17-year-old senior and a member of the Spanish Club. His parents are deceased, but he has a half-brother, Cody.

“Lucian came to us his sophomore year at DCHS,” Assistant Principal Jenny Norris said. “He has been active in the choir in the past. He has performed in some of our theater performances, and he sings with our school choir.”

“He is a senior this year and he has worked super hard to get his grades up and to get all his work done so that he is on track to graduate,” Norris continued. “We are so proud of the hard work he has put in. At the time we were voting for Student of the Month he had brought all his grades up to A’s and B’s. He has done a super good job this year and has really turned himself around. We want him to know we are proud of him.”

“Honestly, I feel honored and I can’t believe this is happening,” said Student of the Month honoree Lucian Mcjunkins.” This all started when a teacher came up to me and told me that I was probably going to have to go to adult school and I guess that gave me a boost of some motivation to get my grades up and my credit recovery finished,” he said.

Lucian said he plans to become an electrician after high school.

Vocational Cosmetology teacher Katherine Blaylock was named Teacher of the Month. She is in her second year at DCHS in the cosmetology classroom.

“This is Katherine’s second year with us,” said Assistant Principal Thomas Cagle. “She came here when we expanded with our cosmetology program. In the two years she has been here, has probably quadrupled her class sizes with kids wanting to be part of this program and learning this trade. We can’t thank her enough for what she is doing with those kids. They love her. They love being in class. They are learning so much and they are very passionate about the things they are doing down there, and being able to expand in the field of cosmetology.”

“Katherine really has a passion for this vocation, and she has imparted that to a lot of our students. We are very blessed and lucky we were able to get her to come in and be the teacher for that classroom.” said Cagle.

“I’m very shocked and so grateful. I almost want to cry,” said Blaylock. “TCAT let me know that DCHS was going to start a cosmetology program and asked me if I would be interested and I said absolutely. I love this school (DCHS) and everybody here. They are all very supportive and help each other. I love what I do.”

A resident of Cookeville, Blaylock has a husband and has two children, a son and daughter. She has been an educator since 2001 but has been in cosmetology since 1995. Before coming to DCHS, Blaylock taught at Tennessee College of Applied Technology in McMinnville and at Georgia Career Institute also in