Northwestern Ruritan Club awards college scholarships
The Northwestern Ruritan Club recently presented scholarships to Northwestern graduating seniors Ella Saal, left, Alyssah Fisher, Lillian Wakefield, Madalyne Hunt, Quinn Fast, Luke Walton and Tristan Miller. Not pictured is scholarship recipient Logan Garman.
On May 13 the Northwestern Ruritan Club met for the monthly dinner/meeting at Northwestern High School. President Jamie Bowman welcomed members and Rick Dilyard, Zone 9 governor from Smithville. The group joined in singing “America,” and the invocation was given by Jim Johnson. The dinner was served by the school chefs. It was noted this is the 55th anniversary of the club, with the charter night being May 1969. Bob Criss and Jerry Payn are the lone charter members.
Chuck Beck’s treasurer’s report was approved subject to audit. Thank you notes were received from the Mohican Church Grocery Bag Ministry for the donated sausage and from Ella Saal and Luke Walton for their scholarships. A motion was passed to donate funds to the Wayne County Rails to Trails as a sustaining membership.
Bowman said he is still having people sign up for the Parade of Flags, with about 350 flags so far. Flags will be put out before Memorial Day and left out until after Independence Day, which includes Flag Day on June 14. Beck planned to send out Husky Brigade packages to area soldiers on May 14 and asked for help with the roadside trash pickup on June 11 on state Route 301 between Pleasant Home and Lattasburg. Helpers will meet at the NW Middle School parking lot at 9 a.m.
Dilyard encouraged the club to keep adding new members and said he attended and enjoyed the club’s recent Pancake/Sausage Day.
The club adjourned to the school theater for the presentation of scholarship recipients and the Outstanding Business Award.
Scholarship winners this year are NWHS graduating seniors Quinn Fast, Alyssah Fisher, Logan Garman, Madalyne Hunt, Tristan Miller, Ella Saal, Lillian Wakefield and Luke Walton. Each will receive $750 this October if they are enrolled in a school of higher learning. This total of $6,000 makes a grand total of $182,180 the club has given to 463 students over the last 39 years.
Tegtmeier Farms received the Outstanding Business Award this year. Randy Tegtmeier, a club member, accepted the award and gave a presentation. Tegtmeier, his father and his uncle are farming many acres in the Congress Village area. Some of those acres were established by his grandfather Harold Tegtmeier, a former Ruritan member. Tegtmeier also is in farm seed sales and raising and selling pumpkins, which go all over Ohio and out of state. Having come up through the Northwestern School District, he received a Ruritan scholarship and went on to Ohio State, where he met his future wife Heather, also a club member and a vocational ag teacher and FFA adviser at Northwestern High. They have three sons who are all Northwestern graduates.
Following the Pledge of Allegiance, the meeting was adjourned to the cafeteria for a reception. The next dinner meeting will be June 10 at 6:30 p.m. at Northwestern High School, with the directors meeting at 6 p.m. in the library. The program will be by the club’s public services committee.