[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 15 (Tuesday, January 28, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S1663]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO SCARLOTTE DEUPREE

 Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, today I pay tribute to an 
outstanding citizen of the great State of Alabama, Miss Scarlotte 
Deupree.
  Scarlotte may be a young woman, but her accomplishments are numerous 
and exceptional. Her most recent achievement was receiving the very 
distinguished honor of being First Runner Up to Miss America for 2003. 
This honor bears important functions, including representing and 
advocating good American values, which is a fundamental part of the 
Miss America Pageant. These young women choose platforms, or issues, 
important to our society and use their stature to help raise awareness 
and bring positive changes to these areas. Before entering the Miss 
America Pageant, Scarlotte knew that her platform would be adult 
literacy, an issue she has worked with for many years.
  Scarlotte has devoted a great amount of her time to helping others 
and raising the public's awareness of adult literacy. Included in 
Scarlotte's work are her efforts in forming the Sylacauga Adult 
Literacy Council, her coordination of the first Women in Literacy 
Summit, as well as her work with the Literacy Council of Central 
Alabama, ALERT, Habitat for Humanity, and the Ronald McDonald House. In 
addition, Ms. Deupree helped spearhead the Literacy Awareness Week for 
the cities of Homewood and Athens, AL.
  For her great work, Ms. Deupree has been honored by the Daily Points 
of Light Foundation with the Daily Point of Light No. 660 Award. She 
also received the Distinguished Partner Award by the Literacy Council 
of Central Alabama, the Miss Alabama Community Service Award, 1999 and 
2002, Miss America State Community Service Award, 2002, the U.S. 
Presidential Service Gold Award, 1999 and 2002, and she was voted 
``Most Ambitious'' by her student peers at Samford University.
  Scarlotte also has a great record of accomplishment in other areas, 
including education. She completed high school at the top of her class 
at Sylacauga High School, where she was a member of the National Honor 
Society, student council, Mu Alpha Theta Math Honor Society, Political 
Awareness Club, and the B.B. Comer Library Teen Advisory Board. She 
went on to study English and journalism at Samford University, one of 
the Nation's best liberal arts colleges. There she was a member of the 
Sigma Tau Delta English Honor Fraternity, Samford University Honor's 
Program, Freshman Forum, Alpha Delta Pi Social Sorority, and 
volunteered as a Step Sing Consultant. In addition, she worked in my 
Senate office as an intern in the winter of 2000, a very busy time for 
our political system and country. She produced excellent work, received 
high marks from my staff, and contributed greatly to my office during 
her stay. I was very impressed with her.
  She is an example of the great work our Nation's young people do. I 
am very proud of her and I know she will continue to give leadership to 
the critical area of adult literacy and that she will be a leader in 
whatever career she chooses. I applaud her tireless efforts on behalf 
of all Alabamians and would like to take this opportunity to thank her 
for all that she has contributed to her community, the State of Alabama 
and our Nation.
  Mr. President, I ask my colleagues to join me today in recognizing 
Scarlotte Deupree for her outstanding achievements and wish her well as 
she continues to work to improve literacy.

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