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Scholarship Recipients 2011--
Walter's Gang:
Walter continues to help other runners improve
even now – just as he did with those of us in the
Parkway Running
Club who knew him and ran better because of his enthusiastic support! In 2011,
PRC awarded full Walter Burgess Scholarships to
four recipients and half scholarships to two returning runners. All were sent to the
American Running Camp
for a week.
All our hard work as a Club has paid off in supporting so many deserving
young runners this year. Not only do we help them, but we keep Walter’s
memory, spirit and love of running alive. Thanks to all the PRC for
another terrific year!
2011 "Walter's Gang" recipients (L to R):
Ryan, Harry, Courtney, Kayleigh, Adam and Lisa.
Full Scholarships:
-
Ryan Reid – Sophomore Catholic
Memorial HS, West Roxbury
This Walter Scholarship is given in memory of Father Dan Kennedy, CM
and PRC Alumni and friend.
Ryan is a serious and competitive track and cross-country athlete at CM,
as well as an honors student. He is looking forward to a successful
cross-country season in the fall and would be grateful for the
opportunity to attend a camp with such a great coaching staff! Ryan has
been running since 3rd grade for the challenge of improvement. He runs
and pushes himself to an extremely competitive level and takes pride in
his results, especially knowing he is representing Catholic Memorial. He
considers himself a serious student athlete and strives to maintain
honors grades as well as competitive track and cross country statistics.
This year, Ryan was voted as a Catholic Conference All Star during
cross-country. He recently qualified for states in the mile with a p.r.
of 4:39. Whew, impressive! His coach, Thomas Beatty, recognizes Ryan’s
dedication and commitment to the classroom as equal to that which he
brings to the track. Ryan has made many friends of all ages because of
his love of running. It’s a lifelong sport, to which he is committed.
Ryan is involved in volunteer work within the CM Community. He has done
the Walk Against Breast Cancer for 3 years in a row, been a middle
school tutor, and was chosen for the Leadership and Service Program
during his junior year starting in September. Ryan is also involved in
the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Jamaica Plain and the Ukrainian
American Youth Association. Ryan is grateful to his parents who have
made a lot of sacrifices to send him to CM. He travels over 50 miles a
day to school, and it makes his Dad’s commute awfully long. His parents
try to get to his meets even though they are far away (N. Attleboro) and
only see him run for a very short time. Ryan states that he loves his
school, his team and his coaches, and that he recognizes the opportunity
his parents have given him. His earning this scholarship is one way for
him to give them thanks for all that they have done for him. Ryan is a
well deserving recipient who would please Walter no end.!
-
Harry Warnick – Junior
Fairfield Warde High School, CT
Harry started running last year and was surprised at how much he loves
it. He gave up all other team sports to run with his track team at Warde.
He plans to run in college and looks forward to the competition at that
level. Harry likes that running is a great way to stay in shape and
thinks the racing gives you a great adrenaline rush. According to his
coach, Timothy Foster, Harry is fast with 2 All-State Awards Banquets
and 10 broken school records to his credit already. But, even more
impressive is Harry’s confidence and work ethic! Besides his running,
Harry has an impressive GPA while taking 3 honors classes this year and
AP Environmental Science next year. He volunteers in 3 church youth
groups and participates in fundraisers for his church. He is has also
been the soccer referee for the last 4 years for the Fairfield Rec Dept
grade school league. Being a junior in high school and a triplet, Harry
is conscious that his parents are looking at 3 college tuitions within a
year. They own their own film/video production company, and had a tough
financial year. Thus, Harry applied for this scholarship, and it is with
great pleasure that we were able to award him a Walter Burgess
Scholarship this year. Harry sounds like he is developing into a quite a
young man and accomplished runner. Walter would be proud to have Harry
as a member of his gang!
-
Courtney Dotterweich – Junior
Gardner High School, MA
Courtney has been “hooked” on running since the 5th grade. She joined
her middle school cross country and track team, and although she was not
the best runner, she persevered and improved. Then in high school, she
had a couple of difficult running years with injury and illness, but
still worked through the hard times and didn’t give up. The payoff was
in her junior year when she broke the 6-minute mile! Although winning
and running well always feel great, Courtney runs because of the people
she meets and the life lessons she learns through the sport. When she
runs, she is in her own little world – a nice escape from the stresses
of life. Courtney is in the National Honor Society through which she
does much community service. She has helped raise money for K-9 dogs and
has through Forward in Health raised money to build a hospital in Haiti.
She is in all honors classes and maintained mostly A’s this year.
Courtney’s father is in the military is often stationed abroad,
including a recent 6 month stint in Bahrain. Her brother has autism and
although very dear to her, his disability can be a challenge to the
family. Her mother struggles with finances as a single parent who
recently put herself through nursing school. Courtney is aware that
money is tight and requested this scholarship to take some of the
pressure off her parents. She has attended the American Running Camp for
two years and looks forward to all that she knows it has to offer with
another week there this year. Walter would agree that Courtney is a
deserving runner and would appreciate this salute to Courtney’s father,
having served in the Navy himself.
-
Kayleigh Laughlin – Junior
Gardner High School, MA
Kayleigh joined cross-country for her first season last fall and she
fell in love with it! She joined indoor track, and outdoor, as well. The
2-mile is her favorite track race. She really enjoys long-distance,
although she has competed in other distances too. Kayleigh volunteers at
the Wachusett Manor nursing home and participated in the Forward in
Health Program, which worked toward helping Haiti. Kayleigh says her
parents are literally bankrupt and she will need student loans and
scholarship to pay for her college. Without the Walter Scholarship, she
simply would not be able to attend the American Running Camp this
summer. Another deserving young runner who would make Walter proud!
Half
Scholarships:
This is the second time we have
supported these two recipients, Adam and Lisa, with Water Scholarships.
We usually don’t support people twice, but we had enough money to offer
them half scholarships because the camp organizers allowed us to give
them our discounted club rate. We feel very fortunate to be able to make
this camp experience available to so many young deserving runners.
-
Adam Ouellet - Hubbardston, MA
Adam has been inspired over the years by his sister and father as
they went off for their afternoon jogs. Their example gave him the
willpower and spirit to do well in school and in all other aspects
of his life. No matter where he places in a race, after the race,
the pleasure and contentment that running gives him always prevails.
He feels that, like Walter, running will always give him the
strength to cross the finish line with a smile – that’s our Walter!
Adam has volunteered and is involved with many organizations beyond
his track teams, including Quabbin Singers and Concert Chorus,
Student Government, the Barre Food Bank, and Quabbin Composting and
Organic Gardening Program, as well as in his church. He is a member
of the National Honor Society also. Adam’s father recently came off
unemployment and his parents are now paying for his sister’s college
tuition. This partial scholarship allowed Adam to take advantage of
the American Running Camp again as he works toward improving his
running even more, without burdening his parents further.
-
Lisa Nguyen - Gardner, MA
Having started out as a sprinter, Lisa through her training with
her track team has begun to stretch her distances. She thought 3
miles was pretty tough at first, but she gave it a chance sophomore
year and found out that distance was not such a bad event after all.
She has been doing the longer distance ever since. Walter would like
that idea, we are sure! This year, the team worked toward beating
the school record. Not sure of that outcome. Lisa is greatly
involved in community service through school events, such as the
Junior Class Car Wash, painting the sets for the local musical, the
Teacher and Student Talent Show, and local events such as Relay for
Life and an MS Walk. Lisa’s mother is a single mother of two,
unemployed, and having a difficult time finding a job as she does
not speak English well. Lisa is trying to get a job herself to help
her mother out and to contribute to her camp tuition. She would not
have been able to attend camp this year without the Walter
Scholarship.
Thank
you Walter!
Please email
scholarship@waltersrun.org
for additional information on the Walter Burgess Scholarship Fund. |
