Charles City seniors receive community scholarships

 By Thomas Nelson, tnelson@charlescitypress.com

More than $82,000 worth of scholarships were handed out Wednesday, May 17, at the North Grand Building to Charles City High School seniors.

More than 100 different scholarships were given out out to students during the ceremony with cheers erupting from the crowd after each one was announced.

Scholarship amounts ranged from $250 to the largest, a $20,000 award given to Madison Davis.

There was a little preamble to the event. A storm moving through the area caused high school Principal Josh Johnson to explain the exit locations in case of a tornado alarm. He also talked about his history with the students.

A flicker of lights followed by several seconds of darkness showed that the storm had reached Charles City, but the participants stayed calm and continued on with the ceremony after the lights came back on.

The Evelyn Miller Scholarship was given to Alysha Bilharz and Sarah Turpen at the end of the ceremony.

Miller was a 5-year-old Floyd girl who was murdered in July 2005, and who would have been a member of this year’s graduating class.

The scholarship for Evelyn Miller comes from money donated by volunteers who searched for Miller.

As the ceremony closed, Charles City High School Associate Principal Larry Wolfe gave the departing students words of advice.

He thanked the parents in the audience for letting him and the faculty be in the students’ lives while in school.

“I spent the last four years with them, and I’ve very proud of them,” Wolfe said. “I’m excited to see their tomorrows.”

He spoke about how graduation was one of the many ends students would have in life.

“This is one of your first ends, like the last chapter in a book,” Wolfe said. “I challenge you to reach out and embrace those beginnings.”

He reflected on his own graduation, and went over four things that had been written by a relative in a graduation card he received.

“‘Work hard, dream big, do good and go make us proud.’ Class of 2017, I challenge you to continue to work hard, dream a dream no one else has seen, do good everyday, listen to the stories of those beside you, and continue to make us proud,” Wolfe said.

Then Wolfe prompted the class, “We are …”

“CC,” the students yelled back.

Seniors receiving scholarships were:

Alex Koehler

Hannah Menken

Madison Davis

Adam Stewart

Abby Milligan

Sara Martin

Nate Lasher

Mason Meyer

Allison Effle

Helen Carey

Kaylee Michael

Luke Hillegas

Isaac Wink

Alysha Bilharz

Chelsea Lumley

Drew Mitchell

Maja Cotton

Emma Heidebrink

Jocelyn Lewis

Alyssa Singleton

Autumn Gerber

Josh Livingood

Emilee Bilharz

Nate Reams

Sarah Turpen

Jacob Greenzweig

McKenzie White

Shantel VanHauen

Nika Babtsov

Kaitlyn Pellymonter

Rebecca Tierney

Bailey Mitchell

Ryan Parker

Ana Calixtro

Kennedi Rowlands

Jaylen Bill

Sandra Bontempts

Stephanie Lawrence

Tiffany Meyer

Madison Nauman

Aaron (AJ) Maloy

Cody Cuccuini

MacKenzie thomas

Raven Knecht

Rosa Gastelum

Dan Swartzrock

Shay Landt

Bryan Springer

Brenden Kvernevig

Morgan Kellogg

Tucker Wilson