Three Manual seniors, Brooke Borders, Ashley Wallace, and Peyton Walker, were each recently awarded a $1,200 college scholarship by the Valley Woman’s Club. The requirements for application were a 3.0 GPA and residence in the 40272 zip code.
“[The scholarship] was for higher achieving students in this area. The south end tends to get a bad rap because it’s a low income area, and generally low income areas produce low achieving students,” said Walker. “Basically the scholarship is to show that high achievement is possible even if you’re from a low income part of town. At least, that’s what I believe from my own experiences.”
Earlier in the year, Borders, Wallace, and Walker were given information regarding application for the scholarship from the counselor’s office.
“I had heard about the scholarship and was planning to look into it a bit more but Manual beat me to it. I was in study skills one morning and they delivered one of the applications to me because they knew I lived in the 40272 zip code,” said Wallace. “I guess they did that for everyone who lived in that zipcode. I thought it was pretty nice of Manual to help us out on our scholarship searches.
The three were called out of class to receive their scholarships and met with the counselors, Mr. Mayes, and members from the Valley Woman’s Club.
“When you’re called out of class to go to the office, you always feel like you must have done something wrong. I was thinking maybe all my tardies had caught up to me,” said Walker.
“When I got to the principals office, I was greeted by all the counselors, the principal and members from the Woman’s Club. I was then told that I had received the scholarship,” said Borders. “I was very surprised and very grateful. It is always nice to be recognized.”
The three students were given time to call their parents to tell them of their scholarships, then were informed of a luncheon they will attend on April 23 where they will give a short speech.
“My mom was so happy over the phone it was really funny. She couldn’t wait until I got home to tell her everything,” said Wallace.
