By james art BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – When you’re a high school senior who’s only months away from graduation… every dollar counts.
“Anything to help them continue down the road is great,” said The Greater Baton Rouge State Fair Chairman, Cliff Barton. “We’re excited to help them.”
The fair recognized 49 high school students earlier today, awarding $500 to each student for excellence in volunteerism. This helps students start on the path to a career later in life.
“I plan to use it for school or for books,” said recipient Kendall Shank. “I’m going to Nicholls for nursing, so I plan to use that for my education.”
“Maybe I want to do art,” said Isabelle Frobea, “try to make a career out of it, but we’ll see.”
“Right now I’m looking at two, petroleum engineering at ULL or nursing, maybe at Southeastern,” said John Giger, another recipient. “I would like to get a master’s degree with this and become an NP.”
“There’s always room for a volunteer,” says Barton. “Find something you’re interested in, get involved in it, it will enrich your life and help someone along the way.”
Many parents attended to see their children’s hard work pay off. Some are sad to know that their children will soon leave the nest, but understanding that this is just another step in life.
“Since she’s graduating, I always say this has to happen,” Emily Frobea said. “As we shape them and then they have to go out into the world and then shape and change it.”
Record day for the high school volunteer program at the fair – nearly $25,000 total given to students. Barton says giving back is something the fair has been doing for years.
“This has helped increase our total giving since we began all of our grant programs, which date back to 1987, to over $4.7 million.”
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