“If you ever feel like you are losing faith in the youth in America today, I recommend that you serve on [St. Andrew’s Rotary Club] Scholarship Committee,” said Shawn Flannigan, who is vice chairman of the Scholarship Committee for the West Ashley-based civic group.
There are 14 local Charleston area Rotary Clubs. Some, if not all, of the local Rotary Clubs award college scholarships to graduating high school seniors. What is unusual about the St. Andrew’s Rotary Club scholarships are just how substantial the they are. This year alone, $15,000 was awarded to three area high school seniors.
In November 1952, one the club’s founding members, Hans Koebig, contributed $21,000 to start a scholarship fund. $21,000 was quite a bit of money for Koebig to part with and in 1952 would translate into $189,600 in today’s money. According to Flanagan, the endowment is now worth approximately $500,000.
“Our Club has awarded over $500,000 in scholarships over the past 50 years,” said Flannigan at the Scholarship Awards Ceremony held Thursday, May 26 at Bessinger’s BBQ on Savannah Highway.
When Koebig originally created the scholarship, it was to go to students of St. Andrews High School. The schools that are currently eligible for the scholarships are West Ashley High School, James Island Charter School, Academic Magnet, Charleston County School of the Arts, Bishop England, Porter Gaud, First Baptist, and Ashley Hall.
“There are other scholarships available for academic achievement, financial need, sports, etc. Our scholarship is unique in that our primary focus is the amount of volunteer work and community service performed by each applicant,” said Flannigan. “Rotary is a service organization. Rotary’s motto is ‘Service Above Self.’ We strive through our scholarship to recognize members of our youth who have given back to their community, without expectation of any award.”
Flannigan said that all nine applicants had superb school grades and test scores. “Excellent academics is only a threshold requirement for our scholarship,” he said. “Yes, we take into account such factors as academics and financial need, but these do not carry the heaviest weight. We take into consideration whether a student had a paying job and/or participated in sports, since this leaves less time for volunteer work and makes the volunteer work carried out even more impressive.”
In addition to an emphasis on community service, the St. Andrew’s Rotary Scholarship Committee also put a lot of weight on a 500-1,000-word essay on the Rotary Four-Way Test, which asks “Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendships? Will it be beneficial to all concerned?”
“All nine applicants were superior individuals. It was very difficult to narrow it down to the final three winners,” said Flannigan. But in the end McKinley DuRant of James Island Charter High School and Claire Lanter of Charleston County School of the Arts each were awarded $3,500 in scholarships. DuRant plans to attend Clemson University in the fall and Lanter plans to attend Furman University. Lee Davis of Academic Magnet High School took home the big award of $8,000. Like DuRant, he also plans to attend Clemson University in the fall.
