Can you believe that 767 students have received scholarships through Brian's Foundation?  You are part of something BIG!  

The first scholarship recipient, Todd Simonis is now a minister in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. 

The 297th scholarship recipient, Zach Sites is an EMT in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. 

The 461th scholarship recipient, Andisani Tsengiwe, did his schooling in South Africa.

The 603rd scholarship recipient, Renata Bruzdziak graduated from the University of Warsaw in Poland this past year.

And the 706th scholarship recipient, Donglin Zhang is...

If you are a past scholarship recipient, we'd love to know where you are now... please drop us a quick email to let us know!  

You can now find the Foundation on Twitter!

https://twitter.com/bdlfoundation

 

Thank you to Board member, Jen Mulhall for being our Twitter master!

2016 Brian LaViolette Scholarship Recipient!

We had a 'Publishers Clearing House' moment last week. Let me fill you in...

We surprised the 2016 Brian LaViolette Scholarship recipient, Eric Hess of Bay Port High School.  This scholarship award is $10,000 and will go to towards Eric's education at the University of Minnesota where he will study biomedical research. 

In the Partners in Education school district there were 3600 Seniors in the class of 2016.  One was selected to receive Brian's Scholarship. 

Through the administrative help of Partners in Education, one student from the 17 schools in the Green Bay district is asked to apply.  The committee narrows it down to 5 and our family, along with Ashley of Partners in Education interview the finalists. 

 Our surprise happened to be during Eric's choir class.

 

 

They even sang us a song!

 

This was the crew that was a part of the surprise. Bay Port High School's counselors, superintendent, principal and our family. Fun!

 

We heard from Eric after the surprise...

"Although it is true that the scholarship is certainly rewarding financially, I have to say that I am much more honored by the fact that a family such as yours, which has seen so many possible candidates for scholarships, selected me out of the crowd of many. 

I am still in a little bit of shock over it, because yes, like anyone else, it is easy to doubt myself, but knowing that the foundation has faith in me gives me confidence that I can live out Brian's message in my own life, and no monetary value can be placed on that encouragement."

Congratulations Eric, we look forward to following your Journey!

Martin Baxa receives the Brian LaViolette Spirit Award

Martin Baxa epitomizes leadership, dedication and support to the citizens of Plzen, Czech Republic.  For those of you who had the opportunity to hear Plzen's Mayor, Martin Baxa address the audience at the Meyer Theatre in Green Bay Wisconsin on 11.12.13 you may have a better understanding of the man he is.

Deputy Mayor Baxa has passion, compassion and spirit for the American Veterans who liberated Pilsen on May 6, 1945 and the American people today.   As the Mayor of Plzen, he was instrumental in helping to establish the General George S. Patton Scholarship of Honor.  Martin is a history and geography teacher in the secondary schools in Plzen and believes strongly in education.

Martin was presented The Brian LaViolette Spirit award at the 5th annual Scholarship Of Honor reception on May 8, 2016 at the home of Barb and Partrick Foye by Brian's Dad, Doug LaViolette.  He is pictured here with his wife, Simona.

Medal of Honor recipient, Tom Hudner honored through the Scholarship of Honor.

Cadet Second Lieutenant (C/2d Lt) Michael Chanda received the Captain Thomas J. Hudner Scholarship of Honor, sponsored by the Brian LaViolette Scholarship Foundation.

He has actively been a member of Fox Cities Composite Squadron for 4 1/2 years. In that time he has excelled, showing great leadership and dedication to the Civil Air Patrol mission.

                                              

C/2d Lt Chanda has served within various positions at our Squadron including; Cadre for Basic Cadet Training, Cadet First Sergeant, Cadet Deputy Commander, and he currently serves as the Cadet Commander. His commitment to Civil Air Patrol also extends outside of our Squadron level; he has attended 4 encampments at Volk Field Air National Guard Base, the Advanced Technology Academy at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado; and Powered Flight Academy in Oshkosh where he earned his solo wings. Cadet Chanda also previously served as the Fox Cities Composite Squadron’s representative to the Wisconsin Wing Cadet Advisory Council. 

He was named the 2015 at FCCS C/Lt Col Christopher R. Koehler Leadership Award recipient. Michael has further served on staff at the Non-commissioned Officer School run by our squadron, sharing his knowledge with cadets across the Wing.

C/2d Lt Chanda enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and is scheduled to report to Basic Military Training in July. He will then attend AF Technical School at Keesler AFB, Mississippi for a 72 week Air Traffic Control course.