At Weeks End
Wednesday evening Humboldt High seniors were awarded scholarships from 43 sources in individual amounts ranging from $100 to $10,000. Several also were recognized for leadership and community service.
Iola and Moran high schools have similar events, as we hope do all high schools.
Academic excellence was on display in spades. The only aside that gave me pause was that our young folks who do extremely well in a great number of classes and pursuits should be recognized more than a time or two a year. They are extremely well deserving of applause, literally and figuratively.
No matter how many scholarships or financial rewards any one student carried from the Humboldt Fieldhouse Wednesday evening, all who were recognized had earned what they received. No one but they and their parents knew how many late nights and weekends, when they might have preferred to be out and about, each student dedicated to accomplish all that they had.
I WAS caught by surprise toward the end when son Bob announced the initial presentations of the Johnson-Wilhite Excellence in Journalism awards. I didnt know he and wife Melanie, daughter of Pat and Allen Wilhite, had created a foundation that will give two $1,000 scholarships each year to HHS students who have excelled in journalism. In the initial year Bob and Melanie decided to recognize all eight seniors in the journalism department with awards of $250 each.
That his parents, Beverly and I, and Melanies, Pat and Allen, all were graduated from Humboldt High makes the awards even more meaningful.
Allen taught full time for 33 years an additional seven as a substitute and was responsible for creating Humboldts journalism program. HHS won 14 state journalism championships during his tenure. Kim Is-bell has carried the torch forward, with Humboldt winning state championships the past seven years. How remarkable those numbers are is difficult to fathom.
As for myself, although now on a part-time schedule, I will complete my 54th year at the Register on July 5.
Thats 94 years between Dad and Allen, Bob said. He also pointed out that most scholarships have memorial attached to them, meaning the person they honor has passed on. Melanie and I wanted to do this while our parents were still alive.
Im pleased he did, it meant infinitely more to each of us than Bob and Melanie can imagine
