PITTSBURG, Kan. — The Pittsburg Noon Rotary Club presented its annual scholarships to four high schoolers and two college students in the Block22 Community Room Tuesday afternoon. The students were recognized for their academic success and community involvement.
Prior to the scholarship presentation, Pittsburg Noon Rotary Club Sergeant at Arms and The Morning Sun Sports Editor Jim Henry asked the high schoolers a couple of important questions.
“Question one from home economics, what do you call a can opener that doesn’t work? A can’t opener,” he said as the crowd giggled. “We learned this back in health class back when I was in high school many years ago, if Mr. Bigger and Mrs. Bigger have a baby, which one is bigger? The baby is a little bigger.”
The funds for the scholarships are raised during Gorilla Grind, an annual 5K held at Pittsburg State University, which is scheduled to take place this year on Saturday, Oct. 17.
“Pittsburg State Rotary Scholarship is awarded to incoming freshman from Pittsburg High School and St. Mary’s Colgan High School who have at least a 3.0 grade point average,” said Pittsburg Noon Rotary Past President Bryce Anderson. “… Applicants are reviewed by a committee of Rotarians and rated accordingly … Along with the GPA, the community activities, honors, awards, and written essays were all taken into consideration.”
This year’s high school recipients are Anthony Schremmer (St. Mary’s Colgan), Alex Beasley (St. Mary’s Colgan), Allie Allison (Pittsburg High School), and Savannah Shires (Pittsburg High School). All of whom are planning to attend PSU. Each received scholarships for $1,000.
Each of the students talked about the school they attended, what they plan to pursue, and even shared some of their favorite aspects of Pittsburg as well as what they expect the future holds. Areas of study for the students included interior design, pre-dental biology, construction management, and construction engineering technology.
“My favorite city of Pittsburg memory, I remember there was this event where it had to do with Pitt State and we threw this colored powder at each other and I remember doing that when I was maybe 9 or 10 and that was one of my most favorite things,” said Shires.
“Where I see myself in 10 years, my goal is once I get all my education out of the way, I really want to help restore historic buildings like a lot of buildings we see here in Pittsburg,” said Allison. “Because I think there’s a lot of potential and so that’s my goal. Just help restore old buildings and all that jazz.”
The PSU ROTC scholarship is made in memory of Colonel Bill Hollenbeck, a decorated U.S. Army officer, PSU alumnus, and longtime administrator. Scholarship recipients this year are Cadet Jacob Panek and Cadet Samuel England, who shared the $1,000 scholarship for $500 each.
“The reoptimization of the organization, the entire Army, has changed,” said Lieutenant Colonel Dustin D. Blum. “There’s different priorities … So the scholarships that we get from the Rotary, any other foundations and endowments that we have are super important for the cadets.”
For more information on Pittsburg Noon Rotary, email membership chair Will Norton at willn1973@gmail.com, visit the club’s Facebook page facebook.com/pittsburgnoonrotaryclub, or visit pittsburgrotary.com.
This reporting is made possible, in part, by the Support Local Journalism Project Fund. Learn more at: southeastkansas.org/Localnews.
