And The Winners Are...

For the first time this year, The Times is awarding its Community Service Scholarship to graduating seniors from Waitsburg, Prescott and Dayton who have made a signifi- cant difference in the lives of others or in their community.

Doing the math, this means there should be three recipients. However, we are pleased to announce there are actually four students who will get $500 from our newspaper for reasons that will become evident below.

In Waitsburg, we want to congratulate Christy Poirier. In Prescott, our hats are off to David Brock. And in Dayton, we want to send our best wishes to Rowene Huwe and Briana Fulbright, both of whom won the Times Community Service Scholarship for their exemplary volunteer work.

We will be writing in this column about each of the recipients so they can be congratulated by family and members of their community during graduation time. Christy and David will be discussed in upcoming editions of the Times.

This week, we start with Rowene and Briana.

Their essays, a required part of the application for the scholarship, were so moving and so compelling that we found it impossible to choose one over the other and thus ended up awarding them both with a token of our support of their higher education goals.

Briana plans to attend Brigham Young University to pursue a Bachelor's of Science degree in Psychology and ultimately go after a Doctorate in Philosophy in Behavorial Science. Rowene wants to attend Walla Walla Community College to get an Associate of Arts degree, then transfer to Eastern Washington University to major in Special Education.

Even without any mention of their volunteer work, these Lady Bulldogs are something special. Rowene has been involved in everything from softball, soccer, basketball and volleyball to Salt & Light, 4H, Band and swim team.

She has won numerous merits, including Honors in English, Honor Band, Reserve Grand Champion Fitting and Showing, showmanship recognition and much, much more.

Aside from being a track athlete, cross country runner and volleyball player, Briana is involved in Youth & Government, Future Business Leaders of America, National Honor Society, Knowledge Bowl and Associated Student Body. She has won recognition as a Student of Distinction in five subjects, won a American Association of University Women award in mathematics and received a Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership recognition certificate.

But the heart of their recognition from us is their passion to help special needs children and volunteer in other capacities.

Interestingly, they were both inspired to do because of their siblings: Briana's sister Andrea and Rowene's brother Benjamin.

Fulbright's family adopted Andrea, a drug-affected baby, from the state.

"She has been my inspiration," Briana said about her younger sister to whom she is very close. "In society today, there is a notion that these people are so strange. I wanted to disprove that and I wanted people to know I was proud of (Andrea)."

From 8th grade to 10th grade, Briana volunteered as junior coach to Becky, a girl her own age and a member of the Bluewood Bombers Special Olympics ski team at Ski Bluewood.

For years now, this common interest in special needs children has bonded Briana and Rowene, whose 23-yearold brother Ben is also developmentally delayed.

When Rowene was 10, Ben enrolled in Special Olympics.

"I would always tag along to Ben's track and field practices," she said. "A few years passed and at the age of 13, I was finally able to become a peer/mentor."

As peer/mentors, the two girls spent countless hours helping athletes compete in their events and teach them other recreational skills.

"Ben is a very challenging young man and requires a lot of love and patience," Teri Hough, program manager with the Walla Walla County Department of Human Services who trained Rowene as special needs mentor, wrote in a letter of recommendation.

"Rowene has volunteered hundreds of hours in the last six years working as a peer/ mentor with the children in the county," Hough wrote. "She is always ready with a kind word, a direction and a laugh to help the children participate and stay engaged in activities within their communities."

As though that wasn't enough, Briana and Rowene took on other volunteer tasks - Rowene as a peer/mentor in the department's Parentto Parent program, which organizes recreational activities for children with disabilities, ranging from bowling, swimming and horseback riding to basketball, baseball and soccer.

And, she volunteered at the Liberty Theater, Relay For Life, Project Timothy, Farmers Market, Camp Prime Time, 4H and Salt & Light.

Briana's list is just as long: Dayton Food Bank, Booker Rest Home, Ham Bingo, Latter-Day Saints service projects and Teen Scene.

"I enjoy and thrive off volunteer work," Briana said. "I believe it is the basis of whom we really are. If we want to be happy, we must lose ourselves in the service to others.

She plans to continue volunteer work in college, not only because there are "service opportunities everywhere," but also because "it has been engrained in me and I truly love it."

One of Rowene's personal life goals is to "help people with developmental disabilities be more included in school and the community. I want to make a change."

In our opinion, you already have, Rowene and Briana - big time. We are deeply honored to help you just a little as you build on your on dedication, enthusiasm and selflessness.

We hope your stories and those of the other winners from Waitsburg and Prescott will stand out as examples of what's possible even for busy, high-achieving students like you. Your volunteer work proves there are few real obstacles for those who aim high on behalf of others since the power that propels you come from within and there is no other force like it.

Our best wishes in your professional careers and personal lives. We are convinced that we will have ample reasons to write about both of you in the future.

The Staff of the Waitsburg Times: Imbert Matthee, Norma Bessey, Bob Nowell and Tracy Daniel