Tam and Betsy Vannoy Memorial Scholarship

I have been volunteering since I was very young because my family volunteers for various things. I was raised to volunteer any time I could because volunteering is a slowly decreasing thing in this generation. Volunteering is not just giving your time to do things. It is about inspiring and communicating with your community. For example, volunteer firefighters aren't just giving their time they are risking their lives and inspiring their communities. I remember my very first volunteer experience, when I helped my church's food drive. We delivered food to those in need. Today, I have joined my local fire hall and VFW. I am a non-running member of the Short Gap Volunteer Fire Department and a member of Fort Ashby VFW Post #6667. Some things I have volunteered for; Veterans Day Dinners, Benefit dinners for those in need, Wing dinners, a hunger mission with my church, and concession stands at my high school (so a broad array of things). I have pertained different skills with my volunteer experience. For example, confidence, communication, and quick thinking. As i have progressed through volunteering i have learned how to speak to others effectively. I used to stutter and make no eye contact. Now i have the communication skills and confidence to speak to others. My volunteer experience has shaped my goal of higher education because I want to help others in my career. The higher education that I will go for is my associates degree at Allegany College of Maryland. I am planning to pursue the career of Physical Therapist Assistant. I was automatically drawn to this scholarship because Tam was a WWII veteran. My grandfather is a Vietnam veteran. So, I would be deeply honored to receive this scholarship because it will help me fulfill my dreams in helping others and make my grandfather proud. Along with my dreams of helping others I was drawn to becoming a Physical Therapist Assistant when my grandmother's health began to deteriorate. I assisted her when she needed to move around from place to place. I would also help her exercise when she needed my assistance. I also want to make my grandmother proud with my higher education. I strive to be a good person by volunteering and reaching out to my community. I continue to volunteer with my local fire hall and VFW. After i get my college classes in line am hoping to take the firefighting classes to become a firefighter.

Growing up in the coalfields of Appalachia, technology is not a strong suit of our people. Kids my age were primarily focused on hunting, fishing, and other outdoor activities. While I enjoyed those activities, my primary focus was computer-related tasks. Naturally, upon entering high school, I worked closely with the computer teacher, Randy Herron. I took every class he had to offer, only one of which was required by the school. I became a computer assistant, it was a program that replaced typical vocational school. Shortly after, I found myself volunteering for different projects around the school. These became available through an after-school program called Project Goal and video journalism was offered as an elective. As a computer assistant, I managed the school website, started live-streaming school events, and spearheaded video journalism and drone programs. With the help of Wanda Dotson, Matthew Stollings, and Randy Herron, all teachers supporting these projects, these programs took off. This sparked an interest in many students who likely would not have interacted with this technology otherwise. An untold amount of hours was put into the programs by myself and other computer assistants. I'll begin with the school website. One of the projects that I supervised as a computer assistant was the school website. Sherman High School has maintained a student-designed website for many years. I eventually built a reputation for my HTML scripting. Randy Herron took notice of this and asked if I would be interested in maintaining the website for the school. I accepted the offer, I operated the website from January 2014 to June 2016. At the end of the 2013-2014 school year, I approached Mr. Herron with the proposition that we could stream the 2014 graduation ceremony. Working closely with Mr. Herron, we discovered many issues with this idea logistically. The largest being YouTube was not an allowed website on the school's internet access. Unfortunately, the 2014 graduation ceremony was not live-streamed. However, the information that we learned was invaluable. Beginning in the 2014-2015 school year, I began working on live-streaming sports events. This was not a small task, I was placing phone calls to Board of Education officials, and even the technology director of the county. Eventually, I received all permissions needed, through the proper channels. My team and I began streaming with the 2015 graduation ceremony. In the 2015-2016 school year, my team streamed numerous sporting events and the torch was passed to the next group of computer assistants when they streamed the graduation ceremony for my class, the class of 2016. This was arguably one of my larger contributions to the technology program at Sherman High School. The last live stream on the school's YouTube channel was completed a year ago. Project Goal was an after-school program, in which I participated. The teachers that supported this program were Wanda Dotson and Matthew Stollings. I was approached by these teachers with the task of ordering video editing software, video production equipment, and a drone capable of recording video. We started a drone tour, going to the feeder schools for Sherman High School. Part of this drone tour was an aerial demonstration of the drone. During this section, a picture of the students was taken. After, a question and answer took place, to which we answered numerous questions from the students.

If there’s anything that sticks out to me in the world of sports, it’s hockey; if there’s anything that sticks out to me in the world of hockey, it’s journalism. I think articles in hockey define the sport, because that’s what people all around the world read. When the Stanley Cup Champions are announced, there are always articles from the champion team, ESPN, TSN Sports, and so many other networks. Whether it’s a play-by-play article, opinion article, or interview, hockey is showcased as a whole. I want to represent a team, organization, or network by utilizing my writing skills to write top tier articles to be read by the whole country. Out of all thirty-two NHL clubs, I am partial to the Pittsburgh Penguins. I mean, it’s hard not to, as during my youth Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang, and Evgeni Malkin were (and still are) dominating the league. I followed the Penguins mainly on social media, but when I saw articles on my timeline, I read them. I found these articles to be quite interesting, as their authors equipped themselves with incredible diction and imagery. These writers also get to be around professional hockey players and watch their games, which would be a nice bonus. My favorite journalist at the moment is Mike DeFabo, a beat writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. DeFabo mainly writes about the Penguins, and he has a great Twitter feed. To be a journalist for a professional hockey team would require watching, analyzing, and breaking down the game, which sounds incredibly fun to me. The atmosphere at professional hockey games is out of this world, and being around people supporting one team creates a feel-good moment. Watching a fast-paced, energetic, intense game feels less like a job and more like a career to me. Sports journalism is a profession where I truly believe I could show up to work happy every day. All in all, sports journalism is a place where I think I belong. This industry is dominated by men, but I feel as though I would have a strong presence wherever I end up. I want my articles to impact the hockey world. Getting to interview NHL star players, coaches, and Hall-of-Famers is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I think that if I complete my bachelor’s degree in college and acquire internships throughout those four years, I could come out with a great job, and if I don’t, I will roll up my sleeves and climb the ladder to the top. I believe that a career in sports journalism would make me truly happy. Through volunteering for my high school's wrestling team, I was able to record the wrestles at all of their tournaments. Doing this opened my eyes to the world of sports and how much fun talking about sports can be. Volunteering for the wrestlers inspired my major and I have continued to pursue activities and volunteer opportunities since my time with the team came to an end.