Tamera was also a Farrell High School Cheerleader and Volleyball player. She’s interested in a career where she can help others and build healthy communities.

Described as a quiet, polite and determined young person, she and others see her as a role model for younger students. She sets a positive example in her school studies and her personal behavior. Similarly, she appreciates learning from those who have come before her, benefitting from the advice, relationships and networks in her community and professional groups.

She has spoken for her class, her team and her school in situations where maturity is required and represented the Blue and Gold proudly.

Let’s wish Tamera much success.

McKenzie was a Farrell High School softball standout. She believes the way to make a community stronger is by improving educational opportunities for young children.

She envisions her future as a teacher, building on her love of young children and her awareness of the importance of school readiness. McKenzie has impressed her teachers with her dedication, her insight, and her strong work ethic.

Realizing the rising costs of higher education, she will supplement her scholarships by working her way through Penn State and by starting her University studies at Penn State Shenango. W E A R E . . .

Best wishes for a great future McKenzie.

She is choosing to study Biology because it will allow her to reach her goal, to help others. She’s realistic that the coursework will be difficult. She looks forward to applying the concepts she learns to volunteer work and work-study jobs that will provide her with direct contact to those she aims to help.

Her high school science teacher pointed out that Jere puts forth tremendous effort and determination to master the most difficult and challenging topics in her AP classes. She came in after school, asked clarifying questions during class and even helped others learn when they were confused. These behaviors are rare in high school students and are required if a student is to succeed in a collegiate science program. The fact that Jere already developed these learning and study habits places her on the road to success at Robert Morris University.

In addition to her academic qualifications, Jere exhibits personal strengths. Her realization that college challenges students to adapt without the familiar support of family, that finances need to be handled carefully and that distractions can derail student goals, impressed the committee. More than one committee member quoted from her essay: “The future can change if you let it, but I won’t let it.”

Without even knowing it, Jere exemplified the true nature of community service when she described the joy she gets from helping others. When she described the happiness she gets when she “sees the faces of people when they see the first set of flowers bloom” when helping her Nana at the community garden, we knew we had a candidate that wasn’t doing community service for the credit, or to have something to put on her resume. We knew that Jere does things from her heart.