You did this. All of you… Did this. Every donation… Every sticker or patch… Every Golf Bag Raffle ticket. They all add up and will continue to make this happen for years to come.
Angela and I may have facilitated and played the ground game… But the love and support via donations to the Summer Stahl Scholarship fund have started a legacy that will carry her name for years into the future. What a warm and wonderful feeling. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!
She worked her ass off… I remember those days in Memphis when she was doing homework when it would have been so much easier to crawl into her bed and sleep.
The last week has been harried and frantic… To say the least. The Scholarship was put in place late. All the planning and hard work were not enough to keep us from running around with papers in our hands, calling and texting board members of the Mackinaw Community Fund, printing from SD cards at Staples… all in the final minutes to gift this award.
When it was all said and done, we arrived at the DeeMack awards presentation with time to spare. Angela and I sat towards the back of the auditorium as we did not want to take valuable seating space from parents ready to clap, cheer, and shoot a few pics of their kids. We never spoke it out loud… But I know we wanted to be wallflowers for this.
Thankfully, Ms. Holly, Summer’s Science teacher was willing to take on the challenge of the scholarship presentation. After we picked our seating location, I walked up to the assembled teachers and handed off the certificate for our winner. Earlier in the day, I had forwarded our scholarship “doc” that I had whipped up Tuesday night… Ms Holly had gone over it and didn’t have a whole lot to change or correct. So, I felt pretty good about the write-up.
The ceremony starts off with the professional organizations who are giving out awards. The second grouping moves on to the academic awards that are selected by the teachers. As we got deeper into the presentation I started to get uncomfortable with the words I had written for our presenter. My write-up for Summer was feeling painfully long by comparison to these others. I was ready to text Ms Holly as she sat at the “stage” to give her permission to cut or edit on the fly if she was not confident with the long-winded description of Summer’s life and our goals with the scholarship.
285 words. It fills a page. But its hard to write a story that is compelling enough to be heard… But not lose the attention of the crowd at the same time. Also… Some of these presenters were not working the microphone very well. I am getting old and still have some ringing in my ears from a concert last week… But I don’t think the best hearing aids could have helped a few of these gracious presenters. Later, I told Principal Mitch that I would be tempted to walk up and move the microphone during their speeches if I were standing in his position! It’s such a peeve of mine!
The last section of the awards ceremony is local scholarships. Some of these presenters were even more brief with their descriptions!!! Inside my head: OMG! I am going to embarrass my kid with what I wrote! Summer would hate me!!!
Ms Holly took the podium and confidently (with the correct volume) started running down the life and accomplishments that I outlined in those 285 words. She did great! She put her emphasis into the speech when she reminded everyone that Summer WAS “Ms. Science” in her class along with everything else noted. It was long… But I could have cared less about the length as I was listening to the words being read. It worked. Not perfect, but not bad for a rush job.
The award was handed out to Alia Grimm.
It has no bearing on her selection, but I had met Alia a few months ago in Tremont quite randomly. She told me she was going to apply for the scholarship and she went on to say she remembered Summer from riding the bus with her years ago. (My mind was spinning, trying to do the math on that)
When the ceremonies were over… Alia came right over to us and (re)introduced herself. I was humbled… All I could think was your parents are going to be mad you came to see us first! We chatted and were able to find out some more information about Alia’s future plans. Alia is attending Butler University this fall and will be majoring in Political Science.
I had made a mental note during the art department awards that Alia was selected for “Best Portfolio” and I asked her about that. She told us that she had presented at HOI art exhibition (like Summer) and this brought me a bit of joy. Weepy happiness to talk about familiar subjects with this young lady. I asked her about the bus trips with Summer again to clear my confusion from our conversation a while back… She said she was in 6th grade when she met Summer. Kids in the country share the bus with all ages. Hard to believe impressions can last that long. (always be nice to the younger kids on the bus!)
Ms Holly came up and spoke with us afterward as well… I thanked her over and over for reading and presenting. “Was it too long?” I asked. “It was fine” or something like that was her response. She said she would not change anything. Cool. I am not sure I can live without changing it up a skootch… But that’s another post.
Later, we were taking pictures with Alia and I ran into Principal Mitch. He has been so kind during everything that Summer went through. He was the one who planted the tree in Summer’s honor next to the football field. I asked him about the length of the speech. (Because I am a psycho!) and he said it was perfect as well. He went on to say that he wished other folks would add a little more to their presentations in hopes it would add a little more heft with a story that created the awards
If you want to read the scripts:
The Summer Stahl Memorial Scholarship
It was a good night. Angela and I went home and I honestly could feel an aura of happiness as we talked about Alia and the award. What a feeling. What a strange feeling for our house. It’s been missed. (Another blog post)
Again, thanks to everyone who made this happen.
Oh… And I have said it a few times today… “I am a terrible person”. Why? Because Summer is graduating next weekend with an honorary degree from SIUC.
I didn’t want to push anyone to go because it is a long drive and its a minute of time in a big ceremony. I obviously did not read the room that is my family… Or Nate’s family. It sounds like we might have over 20 friends and family there for this. How nice. How unexpected.
Oh, and how cool of Justin Schoof, her SIU Professor who initiated this, and the SIU Cares program for rolling out the red carpet. Amazing people!
Your write up was great, definitely not too long! The way you described it I thought I’d have to finish reading it in the morning. lol
I actually thought you could have added more, maybe for next year? Summer was an extremely accomplished young lady, and people should know that, but I think it would be good to add some things about her…her personality, maybe some of her favorite things, kind of music she liked, etc.
Such a sweet testament of the person Summer was that Alia remembers her so many years later!
Sooo awesome that Summer will graduate next weekend with an honorary degree. Are you and Angela bringing a poster size photo of her to hold (between you?) on the stage for a photo of you receiving her degree? No doubt it will be a rough walk, I’ll bet SIU would let Nate, Aiden and Summer’s grandparents walk with you two if you ask them ahead of time.
I’ll be praying for strength and peace for you and whoever else needs it.
Grandma Linda is always so very thankful and proud of our Summer!!! We are blessed.
Eric: It all seemed perfect. How wonderful that you and Angela could do this in Summer’s honor. All the nice things people told you about Summer I am sure it is wonderful to hear how others saw her. Despite all her sickness she still pursued her courses. God Bless
Well done, I know of someone who would be so very proud of her parents. Even with only reading from afar, I’ll never forget Summer’s determination, spirit, and love of her family and the outdoors. She touched so many people making a positive impact on their lives. To know Summer was to love and appreciate her, thankful that your paths had crossed.