Each year the California Scholarship Federation (CSF) receives applications from numerous seniors within the organization for the Seymour Memorial Award. Due to the mass amounts of applicants, CSF advisers sift through to determine a select few to represent each region. Of these few, only one is given the honor, which includes scholarship money.
The Charles Seymour Memorial Award was created to honor an “outstanding life member” in each region. The finalists of each chapter automatically receive a $2000 check, while the winner receives an additional $3000, making a grand total of $5000 of prize money. The presentation of this award will be on Saturday, April 14, in Porterville, California.
This year, FC has the honor of having its own finalist, senior Brady Lee. This will be the school’s third consecutive year having a finalist, as, the last two years, campus finalists have taken home the whole prize. Academic and CSF Adviser Molly Sargent says that she expects Brady to receive the full award.
“I feel that if Brady does not win this award I am going to have to complain to the committee,” Sargent said. “I have never had a student that exemplifies the goals of CSF more than Brady, which are striving to and having a passion for service.”
Brady compares his excitement of being nominated for the Seymour to winning the Marion Huhn Award for eighth graders in the California Junior Scholarship Federation (CJSF).
“I feel really honored to be nominated for the Seymour Award, beacause it is only given to one student a year,” Lee said. “It is really cool because in eighth grade I was nominated for the Marion Huhn Award for eighth graders and I actually won that one, so it would be really cool as a senior to be nominated for the Seymour Award.”
Before the actual award ceremony, the conference will hold a series of workshops that CSF students attending the conference can take part in. These workshops vary from academic, how to grow your own CSF chapter, and entertaining things, such as how to put on makeup and how to do simple magic tricks that the students can partake in.
Sargent advises students to attend the conference because she considers seeing other students from all over California is a beneficial experience.
“I want kids to come so that they can see the other kids from CSF chapters,” Sargent said. “There are over a thousand CSF chapters in California, and that’s a lot of schools, so it’s good just to see other kids and sit in workshops with them and figure out what their chapters are doing.”
If he wins, Lee hopes to put his money towards college and also give some of his prize to people in need.
“If I win, there is definitely college expenses that that money could go to, ” Lee said. “I have also thought about just the need of people around the world and there is also a lot of good charities that the money could go to and spread the Gospel, and really help those who are hurting. I am supposed to be a steward of all that is given to me by God, so I could use that money to help others and help forward the Kingdom of God.”
For more information on the Charles Seymour Memorial Award, read the April 4 article, Conference celebrates CSF, CJSF award winners.
