{"id":37958,"date":"2013-05-01T07:51:47","date_gmt":"2013-05-01T12:51:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/?p=37958"},"modified":"2013-05-02T07:30:06","modified_gmt":"2013-05-02T12:30:06","slug":"brummette-wolford-top-r-k-thompson-award-winners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2013\/05\/01\/brummette-wolford-top-r-k-thompson-award-winners\/","title":{"rendered":"R.K. Thompson top winners announced"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Top R.K.Thompson Self-Reliance Award winners Nikolaus Wolford and Mesa Brummette pose after Tuesday's awards banquet at Vantage Career Center. (photos by Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While all 10 finalists in the 2013 exemplify the R.K. Thompson Self-Reliance Awards motto of \u201cdoing the best with what they have,\u201d Mesa Brummette and Nikolas Wolford, both seniors at Van Wert High School, were chosen as the top winners during the 43rd annual R.K. Thompson Self-Reliance Award Banquet Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

Both winners were surprised and grateful for being selected as this year\u2019s R.K. Thompson winners. Finalists receive $500 in scholarship money, while the two top winners earn $1,000 in scholarships.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really excited to get this award,\u201d Brummette said, adding, \u201cI\u2019ve put a lot of effort into my high school career.\u201d<\/p>\n

The daughter of Paul Brummette and Michelle Gould said she was also glad to see several of her classmates honored as finalists this year.<\/p>\n

In addition, the VWHS senior, who plans to attend Wright State University after first joining the U.S. National Guard, said it was comforting to hear other students\u2019 biographies and know she wasn\u2019t the only one who has had to overcome challenges in her life. \u201cIt was nice to know that there are others in the same boat as me \u2026 it shows that I\u2019m not alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wolford, the son of Bryan Wolford and Shannon Stegaman, attended the R.K. Thompson banquet two years ago when his sister was a finalist, but was a bit shocked when he was named the top boy winner. \u201cI\u2019m kind of overwhelmed,\u201d he said, adding, however, \u201cIt\u2019s nice to have recognition now and then.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Lt. Colonel Jon Gerold speaks during Tuesday's R.K. Thompson Self-Reliance Awards Banquet.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Wolford, a 4.0 student and accomplished athlete who will attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., in the fall, said that, while the $1,000 scholarship won\u2019t be needed for his actual education costs, it would come in handy to pay other costs, such as $2,000 in uniform expenses he will have to pay himself.<\/p>\n

Other boy finalists this year included Jordan Daniels, son of Ted and Janis Daniels; Nicklaus Germann, son of Eric and Karen Germann; Caleb Markward, son of Kenneth and Marie Markward; Isaac Young, son of Jay and Christina Young.<\/p>\n

The other four girl finalists were Sarah Aurand, daughter of Guy Aurand and Cheryl Howell; Kendall Dye, daughter of Douglas Dye and Johnna Robers; Briana Hanes, daughter of Christopher and Robin Dunning; and Haley McAbee, daughter of Bonnie McAbee and Michael McAbee.<\/p>\n

With both of the top winners this year seeking some involvement in military activities, it was appropriate that this year\u2019s keynote speaker would be a career military officer.<\/p>\n

In his speech during last night\u2019s R.K. Thompson Self-Reliance Awards banquet, Lt. Colonel Jon Gerold talked about the famous \u201cA Message to Garcia\u201d inspirational essay written more than 100 years ago, noting that the essay was written to inspire people to \u201caccept difficult tasks without asking why.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gerold, a 1986 graduate of Van Wert High School who is also a West Point graduate and a U.S. Army officer for the past 22 years, said the message was appropriate, because that\u2019s what the R.K. Thompson Self-Reliance Awards were all about.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The 2013 R.K. Thompson Self-Reliance Award finalists include (front row, from the left) Haley McAbee, Kendall Dye, Sarah Aurand, Briana Hanes and Mesa Brummette; (top row) Jordan Daniels, Caleb Markward, Nikolaus Wolford, Nick Germann and Isaac Young.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gerold, who knew Roger Thompson Jr. through his years in the Boy Scouts, said he had a hard time deciding what to talk about at Tuesday\u2019s awards banquet.<\/p>\n

He said he kept asking himself: \u201cWhat can I possibly tell (R.K. Thompson finalists) about self-reliance that they don\u2019t already know?\u201d<\/p>\n

Noting that he was very impressed with this year\u2019s finalists, while also adding that he wasn\u2019t nearly as self-reliant when he was their age, Gerold managed to inspire this year\u2019s finalists through advice he provided from his own military career.<\/p>\n

He also quoted Brummette\u2019s personal motto: \u201cwe are not what our circumstances make us, but, instead, what we make of our circumstances\u201d as a great attitude to have in dealing with the challenges life brings to everyone.<\/p>\n

The R.K. Thompson Self-Reliance Awards were begun by Roger Thompson Jr. to honor his father, Roger Thompson Sr. Today, the event honors both men, who each spent most of their lives working with young people.<\/p>\n

Eunice Thompson, the widow of Roger Thompson Jr., said she was happy to see the many people who attended this year\u2019s event and honored the finalists for what is actually a reward for good character, not their other accomplishments. \u201cIt\u2019s not being an athlete or being a singer, it\u2019s who they are,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n

David Thompson, son of Roger Thompson Jr., thanked those who came out \u2013 including retired Aeroquip executive and original Vantage board member Jim Robey, who has attended all 43 banquets — when he announced this year\u2019s winners of this year\u2019s top awards.<\/p>\n

Thompson also thanked the Van Wert Service Club, which does “the heavy lifting” in selecting the finalists and organizing the annual event.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor While all 10 finalists in the 2013 exemplify the R.K. Thompson Self-Reliance Awards motto of \u201cdoing the best with what they have,\u201d Mesa Brummette and Nikolas Wolford, both seniors at Van Wert High School, were chosen as the top winners during the 43rd annual R.K. Thompson Self-Reliance Award Banquet Tuesday night. Both […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-06 11:39:41","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37958\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}