2017 Scholarship Winners
Congratulations to the following winners:
Daniele Rose Farren, Longview High School
Michael Dean Hanson, Longview High School
Connor Wesley Hearron, White Oak High School
Mia Nelson, Pine Tree High School
Rutvi Patel, Longview High School
Daniele Rose Farren, Longview High School
Michael Dean Hanson, Longview High School
Connor Wesley Hearron, White Oak High School
Mia Nelson, Pine Tree High School
Rutvi Patel, Longview High School
Winning Essays
Daniele Rose Farren, Longview High School
While living in a small town has its perks, I often feel trapped within the cozy walls of East Texas. Since first grade, I have attended classes with the same group of students in Longview ISD's magnet programs. After twelve years, my peers have become like my brothers and sisters, and I rarely see a face among my classmates that I did not grow up with.
Both of my parents grew up in larger cities and know the importance of experiencing different cultures and placed a heavy emphasis on traveling from New York and Washington D.C. to the Teton Mountains and Grand Canyon. My thirst for adventure and curiosity have been developed through reading, attending summer camps, and exploring the outdoors through hiking, camping and skiing. Being the daughter of two engineers has also encouraged me to learn through science camps, puzzles, games and my involvement in my middle school math science team.
Longview, Texas, while classified as a small town, in no way limits my accessibility to the benefits that large cities naturally offer. Longview High School offers top education through its International Baccalaureate program, a rare opportunity for a town of 80,000, as well as an engineering program that feeds into its nationally ranked Technology Student Association. I have been a part of my school's TSA chapter since freshman year and have attended three national competitions, placing 3rd in the nation for Photographic Technology. Music and the arts have also played a significant role in my community upbringing. I began ballet at the age of three and learned to play violin through the Suzuki method at age four, leading to my membership in the Longview area youth orchestra from first to sixth grade. My leadership developed through LISD's band program as I was a middle school and high school majorette and drum major as well as flute section leader, teaching me the importance of traditional nd working together as a group to achieve a goal.
As part of a small community that supports its youth, I have learned how important it is to use my gifts to benefit those around me. From my teachers and Youth Pastor who have served as my mentors, to the Texas Bank and Trust Student Board advisors who teach us about finances, and the local businesses who provide college scholarships, I have witnessed how giving back to others can benefit not only the community, but the individual as well. I've learned to love serving the public as a member of the East Texas Symphonic Band, volunteering for music events at the Belcher Center, and organizing non-profit fundraising events, as a student ambassador for Feed the Children, as well as Touch a Truck Feed a Family. Longview has helped to shape me into a leader who is ready to succeed in college and my career, wherever it may lead.
While living in a small town has its perks, I often feel trapped within the cozy walls of East Texas. Since first grade, I have attended classes with the same group of students in Longview ISD's magnet programs. After twelve years, my peers have become like my brothers and sisters, and I rarely see a face among my classmates that I did not grow up with.
Both of my parents grew up in larger cities and know the importance of experiencing different cultures and placed a heavy emphasis on traveling from New York and Washington D.C. to the Teton Mountains and Grand Canyon. My thirst for adventure and curiosity have been developed through reading, attending summer camps, and exploring the outdoors through hiking, camping and skiing. Being the daughter of two engineers has also encouraged me to learn through science camps, puzzles, games and my involvement in my middle school math science team.
Longview, Texas, while classified as a small town, in no way limits my accessibility to the benefits that large cities naturally offer. Longview High School offers top education through its International Baccalaureate program, a rare opportunity for a town of 80,000, as well as an engineering program that feeds into its nationally ranked Technology Student Association. I have been a part of my school's TSA chapter since freshman year and have attended three national competitions, placing 3rd in the nation for Photographic Technology. Music and the arts have also played a significant role in my community upbringing. I began ballet at the age of three and learned to play violin through the Suzuki method at age four, leading to my membership in the Longview area youth orchestra from first to sixth grade. My leadership developed through LISD's band program as I was a middle school and high school majorette and drum major as well as flute section leader, teaching me the importance of traditional nd working together as a group to achieve a goal.
As part of a small community that supports its youth, I have learned how important it is to use my gifts to benefit those around me. From my teachers and Youth Pastor who have served as my mentors, to the Texas Bank and Trust Student Board advisors who teach us about finances, and the local businesses who provide college scholarships, I have witnessed how giving back to others can benefit not only the community, but the individual as well. I've learned to love serving the public as a member of the East Texas Symphonic Band, volunteering for music events at the Belcher Center, and organizing non-profit fundraising events, as a student ambassador for Feed the Children, as well as Touch a Truck Feed a Family. Longview has helped to shape me into a leader who is ready to succeed in college and my career, wherever it may lead.
Michael Dean Hanson, Longview High School
As an active member of the Longview community and my church youth group, I look for ways that I can make a difference in our city. For the past four summers, I have attended a summer camp with my church youth group, this year will be my fifth and final trip as a youth volunteer. I hope to return during my college years as a group leader. During this very special trip, we participate in mission work in Memphis, Tennessee. This group we work with is named Service Over Self, or SOS for short. At SOS, we work to repair the houses that need fixing, and who's owners cannot afford it, or are physically unable to make the repairs themselves. We repair roofs, walls, plumbing, any kind of restoration that we can complete to improve the living conditions of these folks in need. It is an amazing experience, every summer, thousands of volunteers from all over the country participate in SOS to make a difference, a difference in a community that they don't even live in. The impact that SOS has on the families they serve is astonishing! The memories and sense of accomplishment, that those involved feel at SOS is worth the journey and the hard work. And it is hard work! It is HOT and HARD work, not a typical summer camp! Many families work alongside us to accomplish the work, these people are looking for help, not handouts. Beyond repairing walls and roofs, as we spread the word of Christ, we help to repair relationships with God by encouraging these people to become involved or get back to their church. We spread the feeling of hope and optimism! We share meals and we play with the children of homeowners, we show love by example!
So why can't that be in Longview? My plan of how I can make this city a better place is to create our own SOS here in town, a well-known, trusted, free home repair service just to help people in their time of need. To integrate the SOS camp here in Longview, so that people around the country can come to Longview, Texas and make it a much stronger community. If so many people travel to different communities to help others, think what an amazing turnout we could have of locals helping here at home! We as a working group of volunteers can even reach beyond the city lines of Longview, we can extend our services to all our neighbors in need.
It is our responsibility to take care of one another, to extend help and spread our faith to improve the daily conditions in our community. We can work together to accomplish these goals, and I believe to house our very own SOS community would greatly benefit my hometown of Longview. I look forward to one day making SOS a reality in Longview!
As an active member of the Longview community and my church youth group, I look for ways that I can make a difference in our city. For the past four summers, I have attended a summer camp with my church youth group, this year will be my fifth and final trip as a youth volunteer. I hope to return during my college years as a group leader. During this very special trip, we participate in mission work in Memphis, Tennessee. This group we work with is named Service Over Self, or SOS for short. At SOS, we work to repair the houses that need fixing, and who's owners cannot afford it, or are physically unable to make the repairs themselves. We repair roofs, walls, plumbing, any kind of restoration that we can complete to improve the living conditions of these folks in need. It is an amazing experience, every summer, thousands of volunteers from all over the country participate in SOS to make a difference, a difference in a community that they don't even live in. The impact that SOS has on the families they serve is astonishing! The memories and sense of accomplishment, that those involved feel at SOS is worth the journey and the hard work. And it is hard work! It is HOT and HARD work, not a typical summer camp! Many families work alongside us to accomplish the work, these people are looking for help, not handouts. Beyond repairing walls and roofs, as we spread the word of Christ, we help to repair relationships with God by encouraging these people to become involved or get back to their church. We spread the feeling of hope and optimism! We share meals and we play with the children of homeowners, we show love by example!
So why can't that be in Longview? My plan of how I can make this city a better place is to create our own SOS here in town, a well-known, trusted, free home repair service just to help people in their time of need. To integrate the SOS camp here in Longview, so that people around the country can come to Longview, Texas and make it a much stronger community. If so many people travel to different communities to help others, think what an amazing turnout we could have of locals helping here at home! We as a working group of volunteers can even reach beyond the city lines of Longview, we can extend our services to all our neighbors in need.
It is our responsibility to take care of one another, to extend help and spread our faith to improve the daily conditions in our community. We can work together to accomplish these goals, and I believe to house our very own SOS community would greatly benefit my hometown of Longview. I look forward to one day making SOS a reality in Longview!
Connor Wesley Hearron, White Oak High School
Events that occurred recently have morphed my perspective of the world. My adapted thoughts not only influence my social and academic life, but also my ideology. This quiet, scrutinous attitude did not win me any popularity awards, but it allowed me to relish in my studies, and truly enjoy critically reading stories and analyzing math problems. However, what brought about this inclination was a battle I faced alone, a new level of nightmare that I hope no one else must face. In February, 2012, while I was playing Skyrim on my PS3, my dad came up and threw out the caltrops that I still walk across, and will for the rest of my life. My little sister, Nory, who was two years old then, had been diagnosed with CML. This is an extremely rare form of leukemia that left my sister lethargic and miserable for a month before she finally went in to the emergency room. While we all knew something was very wrong, for she had been in the hospital for two weeks prior, none of my family would have suspected cancer. Stunned at the revelation, I sat in stupefied silence. My dad left me alone so I could think, and I thought of everything an eighth grader would consider. I frantically sought ways on the internet that my sweet sister would shake this off, or for cases of misdiagnosing patients, anything that could give me hope that my sister would be okay. Accepting my cursed life, my entire family got blood work done at Children's Hospital in Dallas to determine of any of us were a bone marrow match for Nory. An agonizing week went by and we all went to Nory's hospital room to learn if by some chance one of us were her match, her safety net. My mom brought a cookie cake in, which pierced through the somber mood of the cold, bring pink, princess theme room. In purple and green icing, the words "Bubba is my match" were meticulously spelt out. I felt my heart erupt in a firework show of emotion. I was my sister's match, I would be the one to save her through a bone marrow transplant. It was a burden I readily accepted, and it weighs on me everyday. I have to stay healthy, I can't get involved with anything that will taint my blood supply. It's been four years since that day, and we haven't yet needed the life saving procedure. Although I have seen the stress my parents live with trying to make ends meet after paying for a hugely overpriced life saving medicine, living with this knowledge has made me face challenges with an attitude not many others possess, and I have benefited greatly from this viewpoint. In my mind, I know nothing can be as painful and as crippling as the disease inside my sister. Therefor,e I attack any obstacle I must climb viciously until I emerge victorious over this hurdle.
Events that occurred recently have morphed my perspective of the world. My adapted thoughts not only influence my social and academic life, but also my ideology. This quiet, scrutinous attitude did not win me any popularity awards, but it allowed me to relish in my studies, and truly enjoy critically reading stories and analyzing math problems. However, what brought about this inclination was a battle I faced alone, a new level of nightmare that I hope no one else must face. In February, 2012, while I was playing Skyrim on my PS3, my dad came up and threw out the caltrops that I still walk across, and will for the rest of my life. My little sister, Nory, who was two years old then, had been diagnosed with CML. This is an extremely rare form of leukemia that left my sister lethargic and miserable for a month before she finally went in to the emergency room. While we all knew something was very wrong, for she had been in the hospital for two weeks prior, none of my family would have suspected cancer. Stunned at the revelation, I sat in stupefied silence. My dad left me alone so I could think, and I thought of everything an eighth grader would consider. I frantically sought ways on the internet that my sweet sister would shake this off, or for cases of misdiagnosing patients, anything that could give me hope that my sister would be okay. Accepting my cursed life, my entire family got blood work done at Children's Hospital in Dallas to determine of any of us were a bone marrow match for Nory. An agonizing week went by and we all went to Nory's hospital room to learn if by some chance one of us were her match, her safety net. My mom brought a cookie cake in, which pierced through the somber mood of the cold, bring pink, princess theme room. In purple and green icing, the words "Bubba is my match" were meticulously spelt out. I felt my heart erupt in a firework show of emotion. I was my sister's match, I would be the one to save her through a bone marrow transplant. It was a burden I readily accepted, and it weighs on me everyday. I have to stay healthy, I can't get involved with anything that will taint my blood supply. It's been four years since that day, and we haven't yet needed the life saving procedure. Although I have seen the stress my parents live with trying to make ends meet after paying for a hugely overpriced life saving medicine, living with this knowledge has made me face challenges with an attitude not many others possess, and I have benefited greatly from this viewpoint. In my mind, I know nothing can be as painful and as crippling as the disease inside my sister. Therefor,e I attack any obstacle I must climb viciously until I emerge victorious over this hurdle.
Mia Nelson, Pine Tree High School
Two years ago, when my dad was sent to prison, I was brought to Longview to live with my mother, who was, and is homeless. We lived in a motel by the interstate. I lived in this room with my mom and two younger brothers for the last 2 years. We don't have a car. So my mom takes the bus. She grocery shops for all 4 of us, going across town to the Walmart or food pantry to get groceries, dragging it all back on the bus with her. Waiting and waiting for the right bus, all year, even in the 100 degree heat of the summer if she can't find a ride. My job was to watch my brothers, one of whom has behavioral issues and try to (1) keep them from running into the woods (2) playing on the interstate and (3) keep them amused in an 18 x 18 foot room with no internet. It was difficult, to say the least.
Finally, when my mom received a job that allowed her to be home with my brothers, I was able to get a job. I have been working at Chuck E. Cheese - since October every week. My only focus right now, is to go to college and obtain a degree - so I can have a meaningful career and support myself and my family.
This experience has taught me to be non-judgmental of others and has given my life purpose, in that someday, I hope to become an art-therapist in order to help other kids through traumatic events. This is someone who helps others release their repressed emotions through the power of art. I believe that this is the best way to tap into our subconscious and expel negativity. This can be helpful to people of any age who have experienced a traumatic event or are handicapped in any way mentally or physically that makes it difficult for them to express themselves. To this end, I have already enrolled in Kilgore College for fall of 2017. I will attend Freshman Orientation on June 7th. I plan to complete my basics, and then transfer to a four year university for my bachelor's in counseling/psychology and minor in art. I will continue for a masters in Art therapy.
Thank you for the time in reading my essay. I would so greatly appreciate any financial assistance that is available and can promise you that I will work very hard to achieve my plans and give back to the community.
Two years ago, when my dad was sent to prison, I was brought to Longview to live with my mother, who was, and is homeless. We lived in a motel by the interstate. I lived in this room with my mom and two younger brothers for the last 2 years. We don't have a car. So my mom takes the bus. She grocery shops for all 4 of us, going across town to the Walmart or food pantry to get groceries, dragging it all back on the bus with her. Waiting and waiting for the right bus, all year, even in the 100 degree heat of the summer if she can't find a ride. My job was to watch my brothers, one of whom has behavioral issues and try to (1) keep them from running into the woods (2) playing on the interstate and (3) keep them amused in an 18 x 18 foot room with no internet. It was difficult, to say the least.
Finally, when my mom received a job that allowed her to be home with my brothers, I was able to get a job. I have been working at Chuck E. Cheese - since October every week. My only focus right now, is to go to college and obtain a degree - so I can have a meaningful career and support myself and my family.
This experience has taught me to be non-judgmental of others and has given my life purpose, in that someday, I hope to become an art-therapist in order to help other kids through traumatic events. This is someone who helps others release their repressed emotions through the power of art. I believe that this is the best way to tap into our subconscious and expel negativity. This can be helpful to people of any age who have experienced a traumatic event or are handicapped in any way mentally or physically that makes it difficult for them to express themselves. To this end, I have already enrolled in Kilgore College for fall of 2017. I will attend Freshman Orientation on June 7th. I plan to complete my basics, and then transfer to a four year university for my bachelor's in counseling/psychology and minor in art. I will continue for a masters in Art therapy.
Thank you for the time in reading my essay. I would so greatly appreciate any financial assistance that is available and can promise you that I will work very hard to achieve my plans and give back to the community.
Rutvi Patel, Longview High School
Most children only receive their eye color or a nose shape from their parents; however, I have inherited so much more: a sense of dignity and ambition. It wasn't until I was living in the United States that I was old enough to comprehend the sacrifices that my parents made for me; they deserted the only life they knew so that my brother and I could have a better chance at our future. Understanding that my parents renounced a life of comfort and familiarity and were forced to make do with whatever opportunities that were granted to them instilled in me a sense of pride and passion. My parents left behind a relaxed life in India and arrived in Canada, where the first year was focused on sustenance more than pleasure. After a grueling three-and-a-half years, my father finally established himself as a licensed pharmacist and relocated our family to the United States. In following my parent's example, I have become a diligent young woman who is able to adapt to change in the environment around me. I have attended six difference schools from the beginning of my school career to my end, and with each move, I have overcome the difficulties of starting over in a new place, and repeating the daunting process of making friends in every new place. I intend to cherish the opportunity my parents have granted me by continuing my education so that my future will be assured. The experiences I have faced and the atmosphere in which I was raised fostered a sense of diligence and self sacrifice in me, and I intend to utilize these qualities to my advantage. I am determined to fulfill my dream of becoming a dentist and this ambition drives me to achieve my goals and make my parents' sacrifice valuable.
Most children only receive their eye color or a nose shape from their parents; however, I have inherited so much more: a sense of dignity and ambition. It wasn't until I was living in the United States that I was old enough to comprehend the sacrifices that my parents made for me; they deserted the only life they knew so that my brother and I could have a better chance at our future. Understanding that my parents renounced a life of comfort and familiarity and were forced to make do with whatever opportunities that were granted to them instilled in me a sense of pride and passion. My parents left behind a relaxed life in India and arrived in Canada, where the first year was focused on sustenance more than pleasure. After a grueling three-and-a-half years, my father finally established himself as a licensed pharmacist and relocated our family to the United States. In following my parent's example, I have become a diligent young woman who is able to adapt to change in the environment around me. I have attended six difference schools from the beginning of my school career to my end, and with each move, I have overcome the difficulties of starting over in a new place, and repeating the daunting process of making friends in every new place. I intend to cherish the opportunity my parents have granted me by continuing my education so that my future will be assured. The experiences I have faced and the atmosphere in which I was raised fostered a sense of diligence and self sacrifice in me, and I intend to utilize these qualities to my advantage. I am determined to fulfill my dream of becoming a dentist and this ambition drives me to achieve my goals and make my parents' sacrifice valuable.
