Extra Effort: Mackenzie Davis has the recipe for success

"It's okay if we have to pick some of the shells out," Mackenzie Davis said with a smile as she helped crack an egg into a bowl.

Davis is surrounded by eager students in April Whitehead's Exceptional Students class at Rocky Mount Academy. Every day Davis comes in to do an activity with a group of students with special needs.

"Is this going to be the best cake ever?" Davis said as she finished mixing the eggs, oil and flour into a batter.

"It may be that she comes in to take students out to play ball, today happened to be a cooking activity which she enjoys doing. Mackenzie is a student that likes to move," Whitehead said.

"When I go in there I see their faces light up, they enjoy me being there," Davis said. "But I just don't even know if they understand when I go in there I am the one that's excited and I get the most out of it too."

Last year Davis took her work beyond the classroom by starting a club called "Stronger Together" designed to help get the exceptional students more involved with the rest of the student body.  The group has really grown this year culminating in a pep rally. 

"We got all the kids they were able to run out on the gym floor, the entire school was there," Davis said. "They got to be cheered on and they did fun games."

When Davis isn't helping others you'll find her on the soccer field making saves as the school's goalie. She also plays basketball at Rocky Mount Academy, but her primary sport is volleyball. She'll play for Cape Fear next year where she plans to study to become an athletic director or trainer.

"[Volleyball] is such a team sport, you have to have each person on the team work together," Davis said. "It's so fun because you have to work together."

Davis' work on the court, in the classroom and the community earned her the WRAL Tom Suiter Extra Effort Award.

"When I thought about extra effort that's Mackenzie," Rocky Mount Academy volleyball coach Wendy Tickel said. "She will put the extra effort in to succeed."

"It definitely means a lot that I've been honored for my hard work," Davis said. "But it also brings me joy that I got to bring joy to the kids in there."