Written By: Emmitt Murray.
The South Carolina State Fair’s Ride of Your Life Scholarship extends reach with more recipients for coming school year.
More college students than ever are being given reasons to celebrate this year through the South Carolina State Fair’s Ride of Your Life Scholarship program.
The program annually provides 50 scholarships to South Carolina high school students seeking to pursue higher education at any public or private college, university, or technical college in the state. Through a generous $34,000 donation from State Fair partner, Circle K, that number has been increased to 53 students this year.
And that’s good news for students like Kelly McKinney.
McKinney, from Chester and a graduate of Lewisville High School, is one of this year’s scholarship recipients and will be entering the University of South Carolina freshman class this fall.
“When I saw this scholarship, I knew I wanted to apply right away,” said McKinney, who was ranked No. 1 in her class.
McKinney said her love for the fair encouraged her to apply for the scholarship. And when this year’s fair rolls around Oct. 9-20, it will bring fond memories for her.
“For as long as I can remember, my family and I have made yearly trips to the State Fair. It is a tradition for us. I love all of the rides, animals, and food. Whenever I think of the State Fair, I have nothing but good memories,” McKinney said.
At Lewisville High School, McKinney was part of the National Honor Society, the National Beta Club, and the Girls Varsity Volleyball team.
Michael B. Woody, a Mt. Pleasant resident and graduate of Wando High School, plans to use his Ride of Your Life Scholarship to major in biology at Wofford College and hopes to “one day be among a team of people all united under the common goal of curing previously incurable diseases.”
Woody said that his own chronic illness, cystic fibrosis, has helped to shape his goals in life. In addition to his love for organic sciences, Woody has been involved in such community service as Toys for Tots while performing in various school theater productions.
The Ride of Your Life scholarships are given annually at a rate of $2,500, for a total of $10,000. Scholarship recipients are based on academic and extracurricular achievement, communication skills, need, and completeness of the application.
The scholarships may cover tuition or any other educational expense. Recipients must maintain a 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale and enroll in at least 30 credit hours each academic year to receive funding for that year.
Here is a look at some of the other new Ride of Your Life scholarship recipients for this year:
Chandler Daily is an incoming freshman at the University of South Carolina Honors College, planning to major in international business and real estate. She hopes to one day become a real estate attorney after attending law school post-graduation. Daily remained extremely busy throughout her time at Clinton High School, playing on the varsity tennis team and being a part of the Beta Club, Academic Team, and National Honors Society. She also served on the student council for three years in high school. This summer, Daily is currently working four jobs ahead of her time at USC. She notes that the scholarship money will help her pay for schooling and avoid large amounts of debt.
Camper Dickinson, a recent graduate of Georgetown High School, plans to earn her Bachelor of Science in Nursing in critical care. She will be attending Horry Georgetown Technical College in August to begin becoming a registered nurse.
Camper grew up attending different fairs, so it was an easy choice for her to apply for this scholarship.
“I feel so blessed to earn this scholarship because I have no idea how I’d be able to get through school without it.” Dickinson plans to use the funds for books, supplies for her clinical rotations, and tuition,” she said.
Lauren Cameron was drawn to apply for the Ride of Your Life scholarship due to the interesting essay question, “If you could have a theme song, what would it be and why?” She landed it with the help of her many extracurriculars, such as the National Honor Society, the Interact Club, and various track and field events at Mauldin High School.
Cameron plans to attend the University of South Carolina to pursue a degree in biology. She said she has always enjoyed “the psychology behind relationships, mental disorders, and people’s behavior.” After obtaining her bachelor’s degree, Cameron plans to attend graduate school to become a speech-language pathologist.
Jonathan “Noah” Jablonski plans to one day become a chiropractor. He will be attending Tri-Country Technical College for two years before transferring to a different university to finish his degree, then attending the Sherman College of Chiropractic post-graduation. Jablonski noted in his essay question that his theme song would be “Centerfield” by John Fogerty. He explained, “The flooding memories of hearing this song from the outfield serve as reminders of the life lessons baseball has taught me (that) handling adversity, hard work pays off, always being on time, and showing up even when I don’t feel like it.”
Jablonski played baseball all throughout his time at Pendleton High School, on both his school’s team and a travel team.
Rising high school seniors in the state interested in applying for next year’s Ride of Your Life Scholarship should contact their school guidance offices.
For more information on the Ride of Your Life Scholarship program: scstatefair.org/scholarships.
