Speaker announced for annual banquet

VW independent staff/submitted information

The Thompson family and Van Wert Service Club have announced that TJay Fitton will be the speaker for this year’s awards banquet.

Fitton is a 2000 graduate of Lincolnview High School and Vantage Career Center. She currently resides in Quincy, Michigan, where she is a successful real estate agent managing her own private business office. She currently serves as president of the Hillsdale County Board of Realtors as well as serving on many other committees.

She and her husband, Stewart, have three sons, two poodles, and a family-owned construction company. The family enjoys lake days, traveling, and cheering on the Detroit Lions.

Fitton and her husband are dedicated to empowering young people by keeping them engaged in trades, utilizing the local career center resources, recognizing life’s transformative moments, and second chances. She will share her inspiring journey of perseverance and triumph, from her upbringing to becoming the 2000 R. K. Thompson Self-Reliance Award winner.

This year’s awards banquet will be held Wednesday, May 6. The R.K. Thompson Self-Reliance Award Program was initiated 56 years ago by R.K. Thompson, Jr. in honor of his father the late R.K. Thompson, Sr. Both men had worked closely with young people and encouraged them to set high, but attainable goals and then apply themselves to obtain those goals.

The program provides cash awards for high school seniors in Van Wert County who best exhibit that character trait. The Self-Reliance Award is designed to seek out and honor a senior who does the best with what he or she has, whether he or she is a scholar, an athlete, a student leader or someone who must seek employment to help their family meet expenses.

The R.K. Thompson Self-Reliance Award is sponsored by the Thompson Family Trust, through the Van Wert County Foundation, and administered by the Van Wert Service Club.