Fairmont Senior High seniors awarded $1.9 million in scholarships
Jun. 4—FAIRMONT — Shauna Riggs didn't think she'd be able to send her daughter to her dream college debt-free, until she walked away from high school with an arm full of scholarships.
"Davis & Elkins is a private college and the tuition is a lot more than our closer colleges here. It just didn't seem attainable," Riggs said. "But once she did that first scholarship and earned it, it gave us a push to get more."
Riggs' daughter, Sidney Apanowicz, left Fairmont Senior High School's Senior Awards Night celebration with eight checks in hand that enabled her to attend her dream school in the fall, and that was a similar story throughout the night.
Sidney plans to attend David & Elkins to study English and plans to minor in theatre and film. For her work at FSHS and her interest in the arts, she was awarded four scholarships specifically from Davis & Elkins.
"I haven't really decided what I fully want to do post-college, because who really knows until it happens?" Sidney said. "But I really want to work with youth, whether that be in education with English or theatre."
Sidney was presented the scholarships on May 25 alongside a modest group of senior Polar Bears, who were joined by friends and family in the Fairmont Senior High auditorium.
Represented throughout the evening were organizations large and small, from West Virginia University and Marshall University to the Fairmont Senior Foundation and the South Fairmont Rotary Club.
However, one thing most guests noticed was how few of the seniors there were attending and how few seniors applied for scholarships during the 2021-22 school year.
Penelope Roberts, a member of the Fairmont Senior Foundation scholarship committee, said that this year there was a drop in applicants compared to years past.
"We've had up to 30 kids apply for these scholarships, this year we had half as many at about 15," Roberts said. "We had 13 applicants who we thought were definitely deserving so we gave out 13 this year and we're so grateful to the seniors who applied this year."
One of the scholarships given out required an essay on leadership, and the students had a tough grader in Roberts, who's a retired English teacher. But she said she was impressed with the work the students submitted this year.
"We had some really great leadership essays and I thought [the students] really put a lot of time into those," Roberts said. "Some even went the extra mile and got letters of recommendation from their teachers, which is not a requirement, but it is something we look out for."
While this year saw a decline in ambitious seniors, getting upperclassmen to see the value in scholarship applications is a yearly struggle.
Jim Green, principal of Fairmont Senior, said that this year was about as tough as any other year, and he's always trying to make the seniors realize the value in applying for these opportunities.
"A lot of [seniors] have the perception that it's harder to write an essay that'll get them $500 than it would be to work a week at McDonald's," Green said. "I try to make [the seniors] realize that if it takes two hours to write that essay, you'll never get paid $250 dollars an hour at a fast-food restaurant."
Overall, a total of $1.9 million in scholarships and awards were given to FSHS' class of 2022 this year and Green couldn't be prouder of the work the students have done over these difficult last few years.
"High character, high academics, high achieving people and I think that was shown here tonight. They have leadership and value service to others and all that was recognized," Green said. "Kids have to realize that all those things can be a means to an end in getting a college scholarship. It's not always about athletics and grades. A lot of kids here were recognized for their selflessness and leadership."
Reach David Kirk at 304-367-2522 or by email at dkirk@timeswv.com.
