Associate Principal Joyce Kim helped hand out awards and scholarships to Prospect seniors last Tuesday April 30. Seniors who applied for these scholarships came to the Jean Walker field house with their families anticipating the results of the scholarships. After each scholarship winner is announced Kim enjoys being able to have the opportunity of giving the students their scholarship money.
“It’s the best feeling ever. I’m so proud and honored to see their surprised faces.”
Kim and Post Secondary Counseling assistant Katherine Pardun are in charge of coordinating the award ceremony. This ceremony has been around for many decades; Kim and Pardun have been planning for it since December. Kim said the hardest part of planning the ceremony was coordinating all of the recipients names with all of the different foundations and organizations.
At the ceremony there were a variety of scholarships, awards, and other achievements that were recognized. There were 25 different scholarships this year. The scholarships are usually awarded from separate foundations like D214 Education Foundation, private Prospect family scholarships, and Teacher Parent Council scholarships. Kim has a special place in her heart for the Teacher Parent Council (TCP) scholarships.
“I love the TPC ones a lot because I work closely with TPC in this role,” Kim said. “They share snippets of each recipient’s story, but honestly, I love it all.”
They also recognized the seniors’ other scholarships that were awarded to them by their future universities, students who received the Harper promise scholarship, and national merit and college school board commended students. Something new that they added from last year was the recognition of students who have or will in the future with more schooling receive the Seal of Biliteracy and recognizing students with a perfect ISA score.
Senior Grace Asper received the Anticipated Seal of Biliteracy as well as the Eric Duffell World Language Memorial Scholarship where she was awarded a $1000 check. To apply for these scholarships Asper had to first take a questionnaire that would tell her which of the scholarships she was eligible for. She also had to write 1 to 2 general essays and then write more specific essays to the scholarships she was applying for. For the Eric Duffell scholarship she had to get two letters of recommendation, one from a teacher and one from an outside source which Asper asked her boss to write. Asper didn’t know that she was going to the scholarship ahead of time and was completely shocked when she won. When they announced her name she immediately looked for her mom and they both had surprised looks on their faces.
“I was really surprised,” Asper said. “I did not expect to win.”
