Two Sweet Home High students receive Ford scholarships

Benny Westcott

Success Coordinator Kristin Adams has worked at Sweet Home High School since 2006. During that time, she recalls only two Ford Scholars program scholarship recipients: Alex Olin (now Alex Gaskey) in 2015 and Bailey Womack in 2022.

This year, however, brought a two-in-one package: Avery Nelson and Quinton Schamp.

“It is a rarity, and it was a shock that two of our students got it,” Adams said, calling it “a very competitive process.”

The Ford Scholars Program is a highly selective scholarship that awards students from Oregon and Siskiyou County, California, who are planning to complete a four-year degree at a college in their home state. It provides 90% of unmet needs for college up to $40,000 a year. Applicants must be from rural communities with populations of 35,000 or less, and not adjacent to or part of an urban or metropolitan area of 50,000 people or more.

“I’m definitely proud of both of them,” school counselor Lisa Malabago said of Nelson and Schamp. “They’re both great kids. I’ve had the privilege of working with them for all four years, and they’ve consistently had great character and have come through high school very successfully.”

According to the Ford Family Foundation, the selected students “have shown exceptional potential and motivation to succeed in college. They have also demonstrated care for their community, a strong work ethic, leadership potential, and an overall outstanding character.”

Nelson was in the car with her mother, Tara, when she received the news. When the email notification popped up on her phone, she immediately burst into tears.

“I knew that this was a really big weight off of my shoulders, and it would change what my education was going to look like moving forward,” she said.

She recalled having to answer essay questions regarding adversity she has faced and why she thought she was deserving of the scholarship. She also outlined her personal strengths and weaknesses and participated in a Zoom interview.

Her original plan was to attend Linn-Benton Community College, then transfer her credits to Oregon State University to save money.

“I’m working at A&W right now and saving up money, but of course that feels like a drop in the bucket when it comes to college tuition,” Nelson said. “But once I got the scholarship, instead of living at home like I was going to, I’ll be living on campus and going to OSU all four years instead of transferring.”

She plans to study marine biology at OSU.

“I want to do something under the science umbrella, working for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or something like that,” she said. “I really want to get a job where I can work outside, and I really love doing research and writing research papers.”

During high school, Nelson participated in volleyball, and this year she landed the role of Dorothy in the high school drama club’s production of “The Wizard of Oz,” which, ultimately, was canceled.

Music is her biggest hobby. She plays guitar, violin, piano and ukulele.

“It’s been a thing since I was a little kid,” she said. “It’s definitely my biggest crutch throughout everything.”

She thanked her mother for helping her.

“She’s been my biggest support,” she said. “It’s kind of just me and her against the world, I guess.”

Befitting a scholar and high school salutatorian, Schamp was doing his homework when he learned he’d received the scholarship. He recalled being at a loss for words but managed two for the experience: “baffled” and “grateful.”

“[Ford is] a very generous foundation, and I can’t thank them enough for everything they do,” he said.

“I’ve always found academics to be important, because school helps you get into the workforce,” he added. “So I always found that as a priority in my life, and it was definitely because of my parents. [They] always instilled a sense of responsibility in me, and I knew in high school I had to take academics seriously because high school definitely carries on into college and later on into your career.”

He’d already planned to attend OSU to pursue general engineering with a minor in design and innovation management. However, the scholarship makes it much easier to rent a place in Corvallis with his friend, Terryn McNew, and his father, Brian Schamp.

“I probably won’t have to work as many hours to get by,” he said.

Schamp wants to pursue product design as a career and “be able to do something that carries a legacy and helps people in some way.”

Engineering has interested him since his youth.

“I’ve always liked taking things apart and putting them back together,” he recalled. “When I was young, I didn’t always get them back together correctly, but I always liked doing it.”

Now, thanks to the scholarship, Schamp can pursue his passions with more peace of mind.

“I was thinking I was going to have to take out loans, because even with the financial aid I already had received, it wasn’t enough to pay for tuition, books, fees and all of that,” he said. “I definitely had a lot of stress taken off my plate.”

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