This week the Lions Club of South Riding announced that it is sponsoring the Mary Walden Community Service Scholarship. The $1,000 scholarships will be awarded to two members of the 2007 graduating class of Freedom High School.
"We have done this in the past with other high schools," Vertrees said. "We've decided to dedicate the scholarships to South Riding now that they have a high school and their first graduating class."
The scholarship is in memory of Mary Walden, a charter member of the South Riding club who worked to help the needy in her community, Vertrees said.
"[She] gave real meaning to our motto 'We Serve,'" he said in a letter to Freedom High School. "We believe that the future of our community and country is in the hands of today's young people."
Students interested in applying for the scholarship should complete the application and turn it into Freedom's guidance director by April 13. In the application, students should include a brief personal history, a summary of academic accomplishments, a chronology of service-oriented activities, including the amount of time he or she taken part in the activity and a brief essay on the importance of community service.
"This is truly a community service-based scholarship," Vertrees said.
The Lions Club Board of Directors will review the applications and the scholarships will be presented at the Freedom High School awards program in early June.