On Thursday night, June 9, the faculty of Wareham High School celebrated the accomplishments of it underclassmen, beginning with a dinner for the students in the top 10% of their class and their families and following with its annual Underclassmen Awards Night. The culminating event of the evening was the awarding of the Stephen A. Stone Memorial Scholarship. The excitement of this greatly anticipated portion of the ceremony was heightened further with the announcement that the family was increasing the single-largest scholarship offered to Wareham High School students from an impressive $32,000 to a generous $40,000.

David Stone, the son of Stephen A. Stone, presented the award to this year’s recipient, Jenna Burk, a well-deserving, and very excited WHS junior. David, entertaining the audience with a heart-felt speech, peppered his delivery with some simple but profound words of wisdom: “My martial arts instructor used to tell us that learning to walk was nothing more than an attempt to not fall down. Once we rose up from a crawl, we would try to imitate those around us and stick one foot in front of us, lose our balance, and fall down. As we got better, we could catch ourselves from falling by throwing the other foot forward, awkwardly at first, until we got the rhythm down. With practice, we learned to walk.”

“The point is, learning should never cease as long as you have an open mind and are not afraid to challenge yourself. Let yourself fall. Pick yourself up so you CAN fall down again. And again. Almost every successful person openly credits their failures with making them a success. Please, don't ever be afraid to fail. Be very afraid of not trying.”

The impact of Mr. Stone’s speech was similar to the impact the family’s memorial scholarship has had on many students over the past 13 years when the scholarship first began in 2002. What makes this scholarship so very different than others, in addition to its size, is that it is awarded to a student in their junior year. The intent of this action was to further motivate a student to succeed and strive for more with the assurance of financial support to move on to a college degree. The family of Stephen Stone, a long-time resident of Wareham, created this scholarship to honor his commitment to making opportunities for further education available to students of Wareham High School.

Deborah Freitas, Assistant Principal of WHS, explained that “their intent was to encourage a student who, for reasons of family background or circumstance, might not have contemplated education beyond high school and for whom that opportunity would have a significant impact on the student and his or her family and community. The student should demonstrate character and integrity despite challenging circumstances, a sense of commitment to family, community, and society, possess a love of learning and show potential to benefit from a college education in a profound way. “

This year’s winner, Jenna Burk, seems the perfect candidate, as David Stone explained: “…despite a young age has more life experiences than many people much older. And as a result, has come to realize just how much is beckoning after high school. From all manner of disappointment, this candidate has fallen down many times, but has also stood back up, regained balance, and put the other foot in front.

Rather than use setbacks as an excuse to fail, or deflect blame they are shaping this year's candidate into a force with which to be reckoned !”

Past recipients of this scholarship are Joey Fula (2003), Sam Sandland (2004), Nicole Ard (2005), Jay Ribeiro (2006), Caitlyn Elwood (2007), Kathleen Grady (2008) , Nicholas Connolly (2009), Joanna DaCunha (2010), Deanna Cummings (2011) , Liz Malloy (2012), Christina Ball (2013) , Mary Torracco (2014), Aria Conway (2015).

All have and continue to be impacted greatly by this life-changing scholarship, with many returning to thank the family each year when the newest recipient is named. All of the Stone Scholars and the Wareham High School Administration are honored by the Stone Family’s commitment to WHS students and their father’s legacy, long to be remembered.