ChairScholars Foundation - News and Events
The 14th Annual ChairScholars Festival was held on March 27th on the grounds of the foundation’s headquarters in Odessa, Florida.
With over 700 guests and 100 volunteers in attendance, the day was a huge success.
29 new Florida Program scholarships were awarded for 2010. Attendees were treated to a myriad of fun activities including learning to sign to music, Wii & Playstation games, karaoke, paintball, arcade games, adaptive field games, spin art, psychics and much more.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Trezevant was the keynote speaker for the awards ceremony. He has been a federal prosecutor with the Department of Justice here in Tampa since 1997 and recently led the prosecution of John Gotti, Jr. in New York City.
Mr. Trezevant shared the story of his personal journey after sustaining a spinal cord injury in a diving accident during his junior year of high school. He charged the students to take advantage of their scholarships and "to grow into an adult defined, NOT by your DISability, but instead by your very special individual talents, gifts, and skills. To develop into a person defined by what you accomplish and by your impact on your family, your friends, and your community".
Next, Hillsborough County Public Schools Superintendent MaryEllen Elia presented the scholarships with the help of Buccaneer‘s Coach Raheem Morris and Rondé Barber..
The awards ceremony ended with an inspirational performance by rapper Mike “Maxx Heat” Mosley.
Mike is a 1999 National ChairScholar, a graduate of the University of Akron, co-Founder of M3 records and syndicated “Pro-flo-radio-show”.
The day ended with a delicious Lupton’s Barbeque dinner. During dinner, Coach Morris and Mr. Barber were gracious enough to sign autographs and pose for photographs