A6 • Friday, June 14, 2019 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com
Senior awards highlight best of best
as the student’s GPA, pro-
jected fi eld of study, gen-
der, or other characteristics.
The board members also fac-
tor in fi nancial need and the
other scholarships and fi nan-
cial aid students are receiv-
ing. This year especially,
they interviewed numerous
deserving seniors, McEwan
said, adding, “It was very
hard to say, ‘Who doesn’t get
something?’”
Not confi dent to evalu-
ate students solely from how
they appear on paper, the
board interviews each stu-
dents to get a better under-
standing of who they are as
a person, what challenges
they have faced and over-
come, and what other talents
or skills they possess.
“This class has had a
lot of adversity — poverty,
deceased parents, homeless-
ness — it’s just like, oh my
lord, and they have done so
well,” McEwan said. “You
just sit there and think,
‘Please, don’t stop. Keep
going.’ They’ve got a lot of
grit in this class.”
By KATHERINE LACAZE
For Seaside Signal
Before deciding which
graduating senior from
Seaside High School will
receive which scholarship or
award, the board members
of Seaside Scholarships Inc.
interview each applicant to
get to know their story and
the value they place on fur-
thering their education.
“You have to take one
individually and look at their
situation,” board president
Celine McEwan said.
This year, the nonprofi t
organization – which man-
ages more than a dozen
scholarships
for
other
groups and individuals in
addition to their own invest-
ment grants and achieve-
ment scholarships – distrib-
uted about $51,000 to the
class of 2019. Those awards
were acknowledged with
numerous others from the
community during the high
school’s Senior Scholarship
Awards night June 4.
Community and fam-
ily members, along with
teachers, administrators and
other school staff, packed
the high school’s cafetorium
to honor the seniors receiv-
ing multiple scholarships
from local individuals and
organizations.
“I’m constantly amazed
at the generosity from our
community to support our
young people,” high school
principal Jeff Roberts said.
While he and other
administrators get to know
and work directly with the
students, observing “the
things they accomplish
every year and throughout
Katherine Lacaze
Hugh Kerwin hands out scholarships from the Seaside Elks Lodge at the Seaside High School Senior Scholarship Awards night
on June 4. Award winners include Parker Conrad, Hayley Rollins and Dylan Meyer.
their time in high school,”
he said, the community
doesn’t necessarily “get to
see that, but is still commit-
ted to making an incredible
investment in their future.”
“Tonight is really about
celebrating them and cele-
brating our community for
their generosity and making
a lot of these young people’s
dreams come true,” Roberts
said.
The Seaside Schol-
arships board and high
school’s counseling depart-
ment helped process a com-
bined 934 applications for
about 50 students to deter-
mine the recipients for more
than 100 local scholarships
and awards. The commu-
nities of Seaside, Gearhart,
and Cannon Beach together
provided $146,000 for grad-
uating seniors. Seaside stu-
dents also received roughly
$36,000 worth of county-
wide awards.
Business owners or rep-
resentatives from various
organizations and families
attended the awards night
to announce the recipients
and deliver the scholarships.
Occasionally, teachers and
administrators also fi lled
that role.
Seaside School District
board chair Mark Truax,
who announced a couple
scholarships, thanked the
Class of 2019 for their con-
tributions to the district and
school.
“It’s been a pleasure and
an honor to watch you guys
grow up,” he said.
Seaside Scholarships’
mission
When Seaside Scholar-
ships was established about
eight years ago, their mission
was to increase the amount
of money available to grad-
uating seniors. In 2011, they
gave a $1,000 scholarship
to one student. Now, they
manage numerous memorial
scholarships along with those
for various companies and
organizations, such as Lum’s
Auto Center, Coastal Family
Health Center, and the Can-
non Beach American Legion.
This year, they are man-
aging scholarships from
three new groups: the Sea-
side Aquarium, the Ever-
green Masonic Lodge, and
a memorial scholarship for
Takeko “Susie” Wahl, who
Seaside’s student-athletes honored at awards night
By KATHERINE LACAZE
For Seaside Signal
During Seaside High
School’s Sports Awards
Night, as Athletic Director
Aaron Tanabe announced
the names of student-ath-
letes who maintained a 4.0
GPA at least one term during
the 2018-19 school year, the
large stage at the Seaside
Civic and Convention Center
swarmed with students being
recognized.
The dozens of students
who were able to keep a 4.0
GPA while also participating
in sports was “a testament to
the kids” and their dedication
to academics and attitude, as
well as athletics, Tanabe said.
“The fi rst thing college
coaches ask you is, ‘hey,
what are these kids’ grades?’,
because they don’t want to
waste their time on someone
who doesn’t qualify and can’t
pass the clearing house,” he
added.
The Sports Awards Night,
held June 3, is an annual tra-
dition that recognizes stu-
dent-athletes for a variety
of accomplishments in front
of their friends, family, and
community.
Qualifying for State
To kick off the night,
Tanade acknowledged all the
athletic programs and clubs
with students that qualifi ed
for their respective Oregon
School Activities Association
state competition, either indi-
vidually or as teams.
“Making the OSAA
bracket is huge for building a
program,” Tanabe said. “Any
time you make it that far, the
kids should be recognized.”
The programs that quali-
fi ed for state included:
• Boys soccer, which had a
quarterfi nals appearance;
• Football, which was run-
ner-up in the 4A division;
• Swimming, which par-
ticipated in the 200-freestyle
and four-person relay at state;
• Wrestling, which had a
student take fi fth place and
another who was a quarterfi -
nalist in their divisions;
• Girls basketball, which
had a fi rst-round appearance
at state;
• Boys basketball, which
had a 24-4 record and was
runner-up in the 4A division;
Seaside High School Athletic Director Aaron Tanabe
recognizes the school’s student-athletes for maintaining
good grades while participating in sports during the Sports
Awards Night on June 3.
• Choir, which placed
sixth at state;
• Band, which placed fi fth
at state;
• Baseball, which quali-
fi ed for state for the fi rst time
since 2010;
• Girls golf, which placed
ninth at state;
• Boys golf, which was
runner-up in the 4A division;
• Track and fi eld, which
had fi ve students qualify for
state in several events and
placed in a few.
Students also were rec-
ognized for their individ-
ual accomplishments within
their program, such as
being named to fi rst- or sec-
ond-team all-state or league
MVP, among others.
Balancing academics and
sports
Additionally,
Tanabe
acknowledged the academic
all-league athletes. To qual-
ify, students must have a 3.5
or above in the term preced-
ing their sport. The students
were split into three different
categories according to GPA:
3.5 to 3.74; 3.75 to 3.99; and
4.0.
“Being a student athlete
is not an easy thing,” Tanabe
said. “It’s really impressive.”
Baseball coach Dan
McFadden echoed that
sentiment.
“This night is just quite a
tribute to how hard these kids
work,” he said. “I was actu-
ally quite surprised when I
got the list of how many of
them had GPAs above 3.5,
with all the traveling and
everything.”
Student athletes also
received certifi cates for play-
ing three different sports
throughout the school year.
“When you’re playing
4A sports, you need multi-
sport athletes,” Tanabe said.
“Without multi-sport ath-
letes, you’re going to have
certain programs that die, cer-
tain programs that aren’t suc-
cessful. To have kids that play
three sports really does a ser-
vice to the community.”
Finally, seniors were rec-
ognized for playing three
sports for four years, or being
involved in an athletic pro-
gram each term of their entire
high school career. The six
graduating seniors with that
accomplishment were Anna
Hudleston, Dylan Meyer,
Samson Sibony, Duncan
Thompson, Payton Wester-
holm, and Katie Zagata.
“These kids are a huge part
of why athletic programs in
high school are sustainable,”
Tanabe said. “These kids are
selfl ess. … They enjoy the
sport and they really do it for
the community.”
In general, he said, for a
town of Seaside’s size, high
school sports are especially
important for fostering com-
munity spirit and morale, as
those who attended the foot-
ball or boys basketball cham-
pionship games can attest to.
“It galvanizes the com-
munity and gets them excited
about sports,” he said.
“Everybody’s proud because
they’re wearing ‘Seaside’
across their chest and they’re
representing the community.”
worked several years at the
high school.
All the scholarships are
governed by criteria, such
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