On Wednesday, May 10, the Satanta High School gym was filled with both people and anticipation as the annual Senior Scholarship and Signing Ceremony began. Southern Pioneer Energy took the podium first, announcing scholarship awards to Sean Wagner and Maylea Alexander, who each received $1,000 awards, and Angel Munoz, who received a $1,500 lineman scholarship. Sean Wagner and Kara Kunselman received $1,000 each in lieu of youth tour trips that were canceled during the pandemic.
Kim Skinner then announced Kacen Anthony as the recipient of the Carl and Carol Wilson Scholarship in the amount of $500. Stacey King took the podium to say that Karely Chacon was the recipient of the Yolande Bestgen Memorial Scholarship in the amount of $1,000. Charity Horinek named Maria Loewen a Seward County Community College Presidential Scholar, an award that provides the recipient with books and tuition for two years. Loewen also received the Lindsey Miller Memorial Scholarship in the amount of $1,000.
Horinek was joined by Kristin Penner and awarded Sean Wagner and Kara Kunselman 4H scholarships in the amount of $550 from the Ewing Memorial Scholarship and the 4H Council. Kunselman also won a 4H Rabbit Club Scholarship in the amount of $500. Penner then announced that Kunselman had also won the Vanier Family 4H Scholarship at Kansas State University, which is worth $12,000 a year, renewable for three additional years.
Kunselman remained at the podium to be awarded a total of five FCCLA scholarships that totalled $2,000. Kunselman was awarded a Pheasant Heaven Scholarship in the amount of $1,000, renewable. Sean Wagner was the recipient of the Pheasant Heaven Super Scholarship in the amount of $5,000, renewable at $1,000 per year. Wagner and Kunselman also received checks in the amount of $500 from the Satanta Chamber of Commerce for their terms as Chief and Princess Satanta. Furthermore, Kunselman and Wagner received awards from the Southwest Cat Backers for $1,500 and $1,000 respectively, and Wagner was awarded $900 from the Community Foundation of Southwest Kansas.
Pioneer Communications announced Miranda Salas and Kacen Anthony as scholarship recipients in the amount of $2,000 each; Ahtziri Alvarado and Juliana Carbajal received scholarships for $500 each. Victor Manriquez was awarded a full scholarship with internship to North Central Kansas Technical School worth in excess of $33,000.
The Satanta Teachers’ Association (KNEA) distributed checks for relief of tuition paid for concurrent classes taught at Satanta High School via Seward County Community College.
Paige and Lana Clawson next presented seven scholarships in the amount of $500 each to Kyra Bowden, Yasmin Morales, Abigail Zabel, Kacen Anthony, Maria Loewen, Angel Munoz, and Sean Wagner.
On behalf of the Satanta Alumni Association, Matt Lee presented $500 scholarships to Ahtziri Alvarado, Kacen Anthony, Karely Chacon, Kara Kunselman, Maria Loewen, Madison Ross, Miranda Salas, and Sean Wagner. Lee also awarded the Jan McLeland Memorial Scholarship to Sean Wagner in the amount of $450.
There were still more awards yet to come, Sean Wagner was awarded the Tonya Wright Memorial Scholarship in the amount of $900. Two Henderson Masonic Scholarships were awarded, one to Madison Ross and the other to Kyra Bowden. Abigail Zabel won a Haskell County Farm Bureau Scholarship in the amount of $500. The two winners of the Haskell County Soil Conservation District Scholarships were Maylea Alexander and Abigail Zabel. These scholarships were $500 each.
Miranda Salas, in an emotional moment, received the Brandon Salas Scholarship, which was established in honor of her brother Brandon, who was tragically lost the summer before his senior year. Vanessa Medrano awarded Salas this scholarship in the amount of $500.
Skyland Grain awarded two scholarships to Kacen Anthony and Sean Wagner in the amount of $1.000 each, renewable. Kara Kunselman and Sean Wagner received Haskell County Fair Association Scholarships in the amount of $1,000 and $800, respectively. Tina Pendergraft presented a $1,000 scholarship to Johana Mendez on behalf of the Satanta District Hospital and its employee action committee.
The Class of ‘69 Scholarship, created by the late Mary Pat Haddican, was then awarded 16 seniors scholarships in the amount of $1,500, totalling $24,000.
Less than an hour after the ceremony, the winners of the Kansas Financial Scholars’ Essay Contest were announced, naming Sean Wagner the winner of the contest and a $3,000 prize; Madison Ross was the third-place winner, which came with a prize of $2,000.
A number of scholarships were not included in the assembly, as they awarded earlier or at separate events. The Statesman Organization awarded two $1,000 scholarships, one to Madison Ross and the other to Sean Wagner. Kacen Anthony received $1,000 from the CMS Electrical Cooperative, and Angel Munoz received a Billy’s Top 10 Scholarship in the amount of $500. Miranda Salas received a $500 scholarship from the Hispanic College Institute at FHSU, and Ebony Torres was awarded $1,000 from the Old Town Barber College. Sean Wagner also won a Margaret Van Horn scholarship worth $300 and a Kansas County Clerks and Election Officials scholarship for $500.
In addition to the monies awarded during the ceremony, most of the seniors received additional institutional scholarships from the schools that they will attend in fall, many of which are renewable. Maylea Alexander received $2,500 from Mid-America Christian University as well as a softball scholarship worth $2,000 renewable across four years; Kyra Bowden received $400 per semester from Laramie Community College. Karely Chacon won a $500 scholarship from Garden City Community College. Kara Kunselman received a $2,500 Wildcat Traditions Scholarship from Kansas State University worth $2,500, renewable across four years. Sean Wagner also received a Wildcat Tradition Award worth $2,500 and renewable across four years.
Among this outpouring of generosity, there were, of course, scholarships standouts:
Kacen Anthony, in addition to his other awards, received a football scholarship to Wayland Baptist University with an annual value of $30,000.
Abigail Zabel received a softball scholarship to MidAmerica Nazarene University worth three-quarters of the cost of attendance, a value of over $30,000 per year, renewable.
Sean Wagner’s scholarships, which came from the largest number of single awards, totalled $23,500 for his first year.
Kara Kunselman’s scholarships totalled $33,550 for her first year, including a $5,000 renewable KSU Tomorrow Teachers’ Scholarship.
Then, two days after the ceremony, Ahtziri Alvarado was notified that she had been selected for a Shocker Promise Scholarship at Wichita State University, which will cover the cost of her tuition and fees plus $6,000 worth of on-campus housing for a total of four years. This scholarship has an approximate value of $16,500 per year and is renewable annually.
We anticipate that more awards will come after the publication of this article, and we will celebrate those accomplishments as they come! We apologize if we have inadvertently missed a scholarship award in this reporting. As a whole, this group of seniors worked tirelessly submitting applications, essays, and references to secure these scholarships, and there were MANY awards this year. It is extremely gratifying to see that their hard work has paid off.