Each year the California Scholarship Federation (CSF) selects 50 finalists from a vast pool of applicants for the Charles and Marian Seymour Memorial Award. The award recognizes exceptional Life Members of CSF taking notice of their academics, leadership and service.

The award was created to honor the founders of CSF, with the first award of $25 being given in 1936. Today each finalist receives an award of $2,000, with the winning contestant receiving an additional $3,000.

For the 2014 year, FC is being honored by the finalist title Tynin Fries, ?14, has acquired for the award, and she will receive $2,000 as long as she shows up to the regional CSF Spring Convention for Central California, March 29. This convention will be held at Cruickshank Middle School, in Merced, California. Academic Advisor and CSF Advisor Michelle Warkentin nominated Fries for the award, seeing great potential in her.

“I nominated Tynin for the Seymour Award because she not only meets the qualifications, but also exceeds them in all areas,” Warkentin said. “One of the main themes of CSF is about acts of service. Tynin has demonstrated this in so many areas of her life. She has been highly involved in her community, church, and also our CSF club on campus.”

Finding Fries’ organizational skills very helpful, Warkentin is appreciative of the assistance she has given in learning the duties and obligations of leadership.

“Tynin is organized and has done a great job of showing me the ropes of how a CSF chapter should be run,” Warkentin said “As our club secretary she takes notes at meetings, is in charge of managing club member’s community service hours and has headed up several CSF community service events.”

Warkentin has noticed Fries’ strong work ethic and believes it has helped the club greatly. She is surprised at the amount of work Fries has taken on and still being able to stay stable in all areas of her life.

“Not only does she demonstrate a heart for serving others, Tynin also has demonstrated excellence in the area of academics,” Warkentin said. “Even though she is extremely busy with journalism, church, sports and community service, she still finds time to maintain an excellent GPA.”

If Fries is the winner for the central region, then she will be put into competition with the other 4 regional winners to compete for a $10,000 cash prize. One of those five will get chosen, winning a total of $15,000 from CSF. Fries feels very honored to be a finalist for the award. She appreciates the reward presented for becoming a finalist, understanding the great expenses of college.

“When I found out I was a finalist I was really excited,” Fries said. “Paying for college is really really expensive, especially the program I want to attend and being a finalist allots me $2,000 which is really encouraging. I’ve always been really involved in CSF and it’s fulfilling to be honored for doing something that I loved.”

Warkentin is very proud of Fries’ finalist rank. She believes Fries is more than qualified for the title and looks forward to watching how well Fries does in the interview.

“I could not be more excited about Tynin being selected as a Seymour Award finalist,” Warkentin said “I believe she is extremely qualified for this award and I know she is going to do an amazing job in the interview at the Regional CSF Conference. I will not be surprised at all if she makes it on to the next level of the competition.”

Fellow CSF member, senior, Kaitlyn King is thrilled for Fries’s accomplishment. King is not at all surprised at her success and believes Fries has the capabilities to move even further in the competition.

“I have known Tynin for the last eight years and I personally know that she can achieve anything she puts her mind to,” King said. “It is such an awesome experience for her to have qualified for the Seymour Award. She has the skill and experience to continue on to the next stage of the contest.”

When it comes to the interview process for the award, Fries feels a bit apprehensive. She looks forward to the conference and meeting the other contestants, but remains anxious for the examination that will be given.

“I’m actually kind of nervous for the interview, just because I don’t know what to expect,” Fries said. “I’m pretty good at public speaking, so that part should be easier. But it’s weird knowing that one conversation determines whether I get another $3,000 or not. The sample interview questions they gave me seem really random, but I think it will also be fun to meet the other finalists.”

Upon hearing about her nomination for the award from Warkentin, Fries was very grateful for the opportunity. She is thankful for the scholarship she has acquired already and feels honored to have her work noticed.

“When Mrs. Warkentin told me she was nominating me for the award, I was really excited,” Fries said. “Any scholarship opportunities I can get are really awesome. I’ve worked really hard all throughout high school, and it’s finally paying off. It’s a really cool opportunity and I’m honored to represent our school and our CSF chapter among the central area.”

This writer can be reached via Twitter: @viv_hinojosa. Follow The Feather via Twitter: @thefeather.

For more features, read the March 7 article, School-wide service day benefits local organizations (VIDEO).