Morehouse College posthumously awarded the bullying victim admission to the college of his dreams.
Eleven area high school seniors have been named the first recipients of scholarships awarded by the Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover Foundation in memory of the 11-year-old Springfield student who hung himself two years ago after relentless bullying at school.
In a fund-raiser gala Saturday at the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House in Holyoke, scholarships of $1,000 each were awarded to Peter Nasser Jr., Longmeadow High School, Payton Shubrick, Springfield Central High School, Susan Skaza, Ludlow High School, Angelo Liquori, Westfield High School and Jason Dinnall, Cathedral High School.
Scholarships of $500 were awarded to Quinn Hegarty, The MacDuffie School, Benjamin Gelinas, Longmeadow High School, Kabrillen Jones, Cathedral High School, Melanie English, Frontier Regional High School, South Deerfield, Stephanie Collins, Chicopee High School and Miles Goodwin, Holy Name School, Worcester.
“We were blown away with the students we interviewed,” said foundation founder Gwynnetta J. Sneed. “We interviewed a group of young people who have it all together, know what they want out of life, and they are going places.”
One of those, Shubrick, attended New Leadership Charter School where Carl had been a sixth grade student at the time of his death, and Shubrick said to receive a scholarship given in his name meant “a great deal.”
“I understand the pain of being bullied,” said the 17year-old, adding she had been bullied during her middle school years for “being a nerd.”
“I like to study. I care more about reading than wearing the newest sweater,” said Shubrick, a former writer for The Republican’s UNlisted teen section.
She added, “Bullying is becoming easier now with the Internet. This puts a whole new stress on teachers, parents and administrators to help teens be comfortable with who they are without belittling others in the process.”
Shubrick, who was wait-listed by her top pick of schools, Williams College in Williamstown, said she is happy about the prospects of attending Holy Cross in Worcester, where she plans to run track and major in political science.
The gala, which raised more than $11,000 for the foundation, was held on the eve of what would have been Carl’s 14th birthday.
Sirdeaner Walker, Carl’s mother who has supported the foundation since it inception last fall, said she was “so happy” that a scholarship “named in his honor” would help “other children go to college.”
Walker was given an additional accolade for her son during the evening when Sneed surprised her with the announcement that after being informed of Carl’s story by Sneed, Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga., the only all-male, historically black institution in the United States, posthumously awarded admission to Carl.
“Carl had definitely wanted to go to college and to go to Morehouse, the historically black college that Dr. (Martin Luther) King had gone to,” said Walker, who was presented the certificate of admission by Sneed’s son, Nicholas, a Morehouse graduate currently with Teach for America in New York.
Gwynnetta Sneed said the certificate reads, “This is to certify that Mr. Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover was duly admitted posthumously to membership of the Morehouse College freshman class of 2015 on April 4, 2011. Carl is accorded all the rights and privileges appertaining to this membership.”
She noted the award date of April 4 is the day King was assassinated in 1968. She said she received a separate letter from Weldon Jackson, the college’s senior vice president, suggesting that “the whole world will know that Carl is a Morehouse Man.”
Walker, who helped get state anti-bully legislation passed and met with President Barack Obama about similar legislation at the federal level, described the event and awarding of scholarships in Carl’s name as “very rewarding and humbling.”
It was also announced that Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., the oldest Greek-letter organization established in America by black college women, is planting a tree on April 27 in celebration of this month’s Arbor Day near the campus of Springfield Technical Community College in memory of Carl.
During the evening, Kayden Behan, of East Longmeadow, 8, and Davian MacDonald of Holyoke, 4, students of guitar teacher Sharon Wayne of the Community Music School of Springfield were scheduled to play.
Carl had enjoyed playing football, soccer and basketball, had been a member of the W.E.B. Dubois Academy operated by the Black Men of Greater Springfield, Boy Scout Troop 35, and the Elms College Quest Program.
Gwynnetta Sneed, who is business manager for a Verizon corporate training program at Springfield Technical Community College, said the scholarship committee originally intended to award scholarships to only five recipients from the pool of four dozen applicants.
However, she said “the kids were so phenomenal” that all 11 finalists were invited to the gala without being told that they would all receive awards with six runners up receiving $500 from the foundation in addition to the top five getting $1,000.
Besides the interview, applicants were rated based on a submitted essay on bullying as well as on community service performed, leadership exhibited, appearance, grade point average and their Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System score or their score on the standard college admission test known as ACT.
“I was impressed with all of the students that we interviewed. They all had goals and were taking measure to achieve those goals,” said Regina Jeames, a senior application analyst at Baystate Health, who chaired the scholarship committee.
“Each of them were aware of issues in society, had suggestions on how we can improve our community, expressed compassion and empathy for others, and knew how to express them verbally.”
In his essay, Longmeadow High’s Nassar spoke of his own encounters with bullies and his efforts to stop bullying while MacDuffie’s Hegarty wrote, “Anti-bullying means resisting bullying in every sense, but it requires more; we must empower those who have felt it in their lives and let them know that we are there for them in every sense, dissolving the isolation they feel with our compassion and empathy.”
Besides both Sneeds and Jeames, the other committee members included Eileen Kirk, co-director of the Step Forward-Step Ahead program at Elms College in Chicopee, and Sister of Providence Senga Fulton, director of Annie’s House, a program of the Massachusetts Career Development Institute.
Paul Mueller, anchor for WGGB abc 40/FOX 6, was the scheduled master of ceremonies for the evening.
Money for this year’s scholarships was raised from donations as well as last fall’s Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover Anti-Bullying Back-to-School 5K Road Race and 2K Walk in Springfield’s Forest Park, an event Sneed said the foundation plans to hold again.
Other committee members involved in the foundation include the Rev. Peter T. Sylver, president of Martin Luther King Jr. Family Services and interim pastor at Martin Luther King Jr. Presbyterian Church, Myra Smith, vice president for human resources and multi-cultural affairs at Springfield Technical Community College, Denise Jordan, chief of staff for Springfield Mayor Dominic J. Sarno, Sheila K. Goodwin, senior vice president of retail banking at PeoplesBank, and Andrew Cade, senior vice president of the Urban League of Springfield.