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Rotary Club of Knoxville Announces Scholarship Winners

Rotary Club of Knoxville Announces Scholarship Winners

MORRIS CREATIVE GROUP LLC
NEWS RELEASE

Contact:
Chuck Morris
[email protected]
(865) 637-9869

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 7, 2012

Knoxville, TN — Aaron Baer of Central High School was named the winner of the 2012 Samuel L. and Juanita Weaver $16,000 Rotary Foundation of Knoxville Four-year College Scholarship, which will provide him with $4,000 per year for each of his four years at the University of Tennessee, during the Rotary Club of Knoxville’s regular meeting at the Marriott downtown on Tuesday, June 5. He plans to major in chemistry, as a pre-med.

Baer was selected from more than 80 applicants, up from 50 a year ago.

“The scholarship is awarded on the basis of three chief criteria,” said Charlie Harr, chair of the Rotary Club of Knoxville’s Scholarship Awards committee. “We look at character and work ethic, the family financial situation, and what the person has done in and out of high school.”

The captain of Central’s Science Bowl team, he plays clarinet, is a section leader in the Central High symphonic band and also plays in the East Tennessee Concert Band. He had a weighted grade-point average of 4.28 and earned Advanced Placement credit in multiple subjects.

Baer is the son of Laura Hagaman and stepfather Chuck Hagaman of Knoxville.

Also at the meeting, Alexa Carter was awarded this year’s $2,500 Bob and Diana Samples Community School of the Arts/Rotary scholarship. Carter is a junior at the University of Tennessee, majoring in chemistry and minoring in environmental studies. She has received numerous scholarships, including the Tennessee Volunteer Academic Scholarship and the Herbert S. Walters Science Scholarship. She serves as the vice president of the Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society-UTK, vice president of the Circle K International-UTK Chapter and is an active member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, the Golden Key International Honour Society and Students Promoting Environmental Action in Knoxville.

Carter enrolled in the Community School of the Arts in second grade. At CSA, she blossomed with a variety of classes, including voice, dance, culinary arts, piano and art. These classes helped her form a passion for the arts as a whole, especially when involving the community. Carter was also an avid participant in the annual Side-by-Side Program with CSA, a program that aided in the development of the many artistic and creative skills that she still uses today. Carter says, “CSA is the place I’ve been involved in any kind of learning activity for the longest amount of time, and I am thankful that it allowed me to express my creativity through music, dance, song and art. It was home away from home. It has been a part of the circle of support that prepared me for college and life, and for that, I am very grateful.”

Carter is the daughter of Ms. Marie Carter, a Human Resources educator in Knoxville, and the granddaughter of Mr. and Dr. Glen Carter in Jamaica.

“It’s an honor to be able to support the arts through Rotary’s Foundation, and we are as pleased as we can be for Alexa,” said Diana Samples.

Founded in 1992, the Community School of the Arts, located in the First Presbyterian Church in downtown Knoxville, has served hundreds of inner-city and rural-area youth with after-school programs designed to promote self-confidence, self-awareness, and good citizenship through active participation in the arts. Recently, the school became one of 35 finalists from across the country for the prestigious National Arts and HumanitiesYouth Program Awards, awarded by the President’s Committee on Arts and Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts.

For more information, please visit:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Community-School-of-the-Arts/117253740072
https://www.youtube.com/user/CSAKnoxville

ABOUT ROTARY

Founded in 1915, the Rotary Club of Knoxville is among the oldest and largest Rotary clubs in Tennessee. The Rotary Foundation of Knoxville provides for college scholarships and special projects.

As the world’s largest private provider of international scholarships, the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International helps more than 1,000 students annually to study abroad and serve as cultural ambassadors. Rotary also partners with seven prestigious universities around the world to provide opportunities to earn a master’s degree in peace and conflict and resolution.

Rotary is an international volunteer organization of 1.2 million business and professional leaders united worldwide to promote humanitarian service and help build goodwill and peace. About 32,000 Rotary clubs in more than 200 countries conduct projects to address today’s challenges—including illiteracy, disease, hunger, poverty, lack of clean water and environmental concerns—while encouraging high ethical standards in all vocations.

Since 1985, Rotary’s top priority has been to eradicate polio worldwide. This 25-year effort has helped reduce the number of polio cases by 99 percent. By the time polio is eradicated, Rotary club members will have contributed more than $850 million and countless volunteer hours to immunize more than two billion children in 122 countries.

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2012 Rotary Foundation of Knoxville's Scholarship winner

2012 RFK Scholarship Award (L to R): President Sam Weaver, Laurel Hagaman (Mom), Aaron Baer (Sam & Carol Weaver RFK Four-year $16,000 College Scholarship recipient), Chuck Hagaman (Dad), April Baer (Sister), and Past President Mack Gentry.

 

2012 Community School of Arts Scholarship winner

2012 CSA Scholarship Award (L to R): President-Elect Nominee Bob Samples, Diana Samples, Jennifer Willard, Marie Carter (Alexa’s Mom), Alexa Carter (Bob and Diana Samples Community School of the Arts Scholarship Recipient), and President Sam Weaver.