[July 14, 2011] Helping others earns local student a $10,000 Rotary scholarship Tweet Jul 13, 2011 (The Haverhill Gazette - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Forty-seven Rotary clubs throughout the Greater Boston and Salem, N.H. region chose a 2011 Haverhill High graduate as the recipient of the club's prestigious Service Above Self Scholarship. Molly Gibbs, one of six finalists, received the phone call telling her that she'd won the $10,000 award two weeks ago while she was lifeguarding at Phillips Pond in Sandown, N.H. "I was so excited for the rest of the day," she said. "It's more than half of what I'm paying per year for college, so it's really good." Gibbs, who will attend UMass Amherst in the fall, joined Haverhill High's Interact Club, a community-based service organization, during her freshman year. Throughout her tenure, she served as the treasurer and service coordinator of the organization, working on city cleanup projects, purchasing animals for families and farms in third-world countries and raising money for earthquake victims in Haiti, while working with the Haverhill Rotary Club on other projects benefitting Greater Haverhill. Additionally, Gibbs participated in an after-school tutoring program, served as the secretary for the Class of 2011, captained her swim team and was a member of the Haverhill High Student Council and National Honor Society. "She has distinguished herself as a caring advocate who places community needs above all else," said E. Philip Brown, a history teacher at Haverhill High and the faculty advisor of the Interact Club. Gibbs plans to study nursing at UMass Amherst and hopes to join the local Rotary club on campus. She said her four years of experience as a volunteer will be an asset to any organization she joins. "Any club I join there, my experience in fundraising with the Class of 2011, the Rotary Club, National Honor Society, I think that will help," Gibbs said. "I've gotten pretty good at it." Even though she'll be two hours away, Gibbs hopes to maintain a role in the Haverhill Rotary Club. "I'm going to definitely stay involved," she said. "Any weekend I can come up there to help with the Rotary, I will." Gibbs felt her call to service in her 4th grade classroom at Bradford Elementary, when her class worked with a few students with learning disabilities. "I really liked it," she said. "I really liked helping out." The Service Above Self award recognizes high school seniors who have involved themselves in Rotary activities and projects and encourages the recipient to continue working to improve the lives of members of the community where they live. Gibbs said the award should bring visibility to not only the Rotary and Interact Club, but also to all clubs at Haverhill High. "It's nice to be rewarded for the things I do, and I think it'll motivate other people to help out," she said. "It'll help the Interact Club and other clubs that people are interested in and thinking about joining." ---- To see more of The Haverhill Gazette or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.hgazette.com/. Copyright (c) 2011, The Haverhill Gazette, Mass. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]