$2,200 in Fremont St. Joe "Christi T. Scholarships"

Although it's always nice to get back home, the envelope waiting to tell us that we owe CHOP $14,000 for some of Christi's bills back in July of 2006 that we didn't even know about wasn't the "Welcome Home" I was hoping for (smile). Oh well, we'll deal with that too. Today, let's talk about GOOD NEWS:

This scholarship, in Christi’s Memory, is for a graduate, a graduating Senior, or a child of an alumni of St. Joe’s Catholic High School in Fremont. This year’s $1,000 winners to go Eric & Ashley. Additionally, we added two $100 scholarships to Kaitlyn and Libby and we wish them all the very best!

Even though it’s hard, I think I should personally call and congratulate the winners, so I do. Eric’s delightful response reconfirmed to me that the committee made the right decision. Eric was incredibly appreciative and grateful. Additionally, two days later we received an awesome thank you note with his Senior picture. A part of it read:

Eric & Fremont St. Joe's Tribute to ChristiIt warms my heart to think that you may see similar qualities to those of your brave daughter in me. My own sister had cancer and passed away when she was 16. It is without the most major difficult struggle we will ever face. We are making it through. Every day is a challenge, but when I wake up in the morning, I thank God for another day and I promise my sister, Sara, that I’ll make her proud.
Additionally, he invited us to his Relay for Life – a major project he’s worked on since his sister’s battle with cancer. I cried when I read, “On our Hollywood Walk of Fame we have a star in honor of Christi. I’d love it if you could come.” Eric graduated at the top of his class and will be attending an out-of-state school for architecture. We wish him the very best! Parts of his essay are below:

Ever since I was a young boy, I loved to learn. School has always been like a second home to me, especially once I became a freshman at SJCC. It seems like I am at Saint Joe more than I’m at my own home, but that’s beside the point. In addition to my love for learning, I love to be creative. My parents tell me that I never was one to play with toys. I’d rather find something in the kitchen and make my own game out of it. I have been able to enhance my creative side at SJCC. I spend many hours after school working on art projects, helping out with the Catholic Schools’ Auction, painting windows, or making bowls for the ‘Soup and Bowl Auction.’

I have always embraced learning with a great passion. It is what I love to do. If I don’t understand something, I won’t rest until I figure it out. That is just my personality. I also love helping others to learn more as well. Last year, I always found myself tutoring my classmates in Chemistry and Pre-Calc. It was a challenge, but it was all worth it when they came out with a better understanding of it.

I also took charge of the Sara Barbour Memorial Golf Outing for three straight years. The proceeds from this outing go to a scholarship fund. The scholarships go to eighth graders at Sacred Heart so that they can continue their catholic education at SJCC High School, something I have been very blessed with. Scholarships also go to graduates of SJCC to continue their education at the college level.

Outside of school, I have also taken charge of a Relay for Life team. Through doing this, I know that I am helping cancer patients throughout the world. My sister died of cancer when she was only 16 years old and I have made it a goal of mine to help others fight this disease. I also have become a blood donor. I’ve helped run the blood drives at St. Joe the last two years because it is so important to me. I have realized firsthand how important it is to give blood and help those battling for their lives like my sister had to. In addition to encouraging my friends at school to donate blood, I also did a 4-H project on donating. I actually got to take my project to the State Fair and show everything I learned about giving the gift of life.

Throughout my 18 years of life, I have embraced a love of learning both in and out of school. I have also done my best in helping others in whatever way possible. Whether it is a blood drive, a cancer walk, Mr. Wonderly’s Chemistry class, or fundraiser for scholarships, I do my best to be as great a help as possible. It would be such an honor to receive this scholarship in memory of Christi Thomas and I thank you so much for considering me.

Jenn's Memorial for Christi (Last year Jennifer received a $1,000 Scholarship)Ashley, daughter of an Alumni, also received a $1,000 award in Christi’s Memory. Parts of her essay are below. We were especially touched by her memories of Christi, her little cousin.

I’ve lived in many different worlds. I have attended Hogwarts with Harry Potter, solved mysteries with The Boxcar Children, defended Redwall against rat invasions, and helped Artemis Fowl steal gold from the fairies. Every book I read was food for my imagination, and I was always starving for more. A passion for books was one thing Christi and I always had in common. She always came bouncing up to me gushing over her latest story and I loved giving her suggestions of my favorites. Even though I became more of a math and science student, I can still never resist a good story. As I grew older my passion for books began to turn into a passion for so much more – a passion for learning. There always seemed to be so many wonderful possibilities of what to read next and with it came knowledge. In school the road we travel forks off into more and more paths leading to different worlds of information.

God has a plan for me, hopefully to help perfect his amazing creation of this world by solving the problems that occur in everyday life and by inspiring others to foster their love of learning in order to continue our progress. To fulfill my goal I will need to continue to grow and explore in an atmosphere that can nurture my God-given talents and help me to understand how to use them most effectively. It’s so exciting that I have the opportunity to go to a college of engineering where the amazing Neil Armstrong and Amelia Earhart also pursued their passion for exploring our world. Going to college is akin to going to one of the adventurous worlds I have read about in my favorite books. It is a new place, full of opportunities and millions of new things to learn, all to be revealed as we progress through the story. I’m grateful for this opportunity and I’m simply not going to waste a minute of it!