$1,000 Christi Thomas Seneca East Scholarship

I just knew I was going to be ok. I told Shayne I wanted to present this one and since we weren't certain he'd be able to make it over to the school to announce the first Christi Thomas $1,000 Memorial Scholarship at Seneca East, I was all set to go at nine o'clock. The sweet guidance counselor looked out and asked if we were present. The lovely student body responded, "Yes!" She said, "Here is Shayne and Angela Thomas and Shayna." The student body responded, "Shayla!" (That was Shayla's favorite part of the morning. She said, "Those kids knew my name!!")

As we walked up, I was thinking about the fact that John told Shayne Penelope was being buried in New York today and also that Christi died at 9AM. Suddenly, tears formed and I choked. I started the little speech and my tears fell. I looked up at Shayne with my, "I didn't think this was going to happen look," and I felt Shayla's little hand pat my back when I got myself together.

I'll share more about the winners later, but this is what I said:

At this very time, eight months and two days ago, our beloved daughter - Christi Thomas, died in a Philadelphia hospital after a four year battle with cancer. She was in the fifth grade at Republic Elementary School.

Days before her death, we established the Christi Thomas Memorial Fund in a concerted effort to memorialize her all too short life. One of the ways we wanted to keep her memory alive, was by offering a $1,000 scholarship to a Seneca East student each year because Christi loved this school district so very, very much. Even though through four years of continuous treatment, she was not able to attend school all of the time, she was always interesting in learning and always had a stack of books - wherever she was.

The Scholarship Committee, consisting of five individuals, determined this year’s recipient based upon letters of recommendation, an application and an essay. In addition, to represent Christi's love of books and reading we added a $250.00 book scholarship to help others, who like Christi, embrace a love of learning.

The $250 scholarships, which we hope will take care of each of your textbook bill this fall, include: Chris, Marlana, Lindsay and Amanda .

SHAYLA ANNOUNCED: The $1,000 Christi Thomas Scholarship is awarded to Alison.
I'll write a little bit more about this amazing honors student soon. Congratulations, Alison - recipient of the $1,000 Christi Thomas Memorial Scholarship!To celebrate Christi's love of reading, these sweet students were each awarded with a $250.00 book scholarships to help them with their college textbook bill in the fall!