Copperas Cove Lions Club awards scholarships

By BRITTANY FHOLER
Cove Leader-Press

The Lions Club of Copperas Cove awarded two $1,000 scholarships to Copperas Cove High School seniors during the club’s meeting held last Tuesday afternoon at Lil’ Tex Restaurant. 
The scholarships went to Nadia Cisneros and Jacob Madrid-Swenson. Cisneros plans to attend Texas A&M University in the fall, majoring in Allied Health to move into the pre-med field. Madrid-Swenson plans to attend Texas State University, majoring in Biology and Kinesiology to pursue a career in physical therapy and eventually join the military. 
Alan Horn, who is on the Lions Club scholarship committee, said that scholarships are designed to reward deserving students from Copperas Cove High School for their efforts. The committee looks at the applicants’ volunteer service, their grade point average and transcript, extracurricular activities and a one-page essay. 
The Lions Club only awarded two scholarships this year due to COVID-19, Horn said. They typically give away three and plan to do three next year. The club’s main fundraiser is a golf tournament held each year. The 2021 golf tournament will be in September. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lions Club was unable to hold its tournament in 2020. 
“It’s a great feeling for us to reward deserving individuals,” Horn said. “Sometimes as adults, we get a little jaded and think that the younger generations are not worthy, and they’re not doing much. Furthest from the truth. We hear bad things a lot, but this gives us an opportunity look at, talk to and reward really deserving young people and help them on their way to success. We reinforce success by that way. We also appreciate their parents because the burden of raising falls on them, and they’ve obviously done a good job.”
Cisneros was very appreciative of the scholarship. 
“It means a lot to me because of course college is very expensive, so having a scholarship like this is going to further my education, and it’ll help take off that load of having to worry about the cost and being able to go to medical school after doing my four years,” Cisneros said. “I am very excited to graduate. I’m a little sad to leave the hometown that we’ve been at for it seems like forever, but I’m very excited to get out, go explore A&M and to start new traditions there.”
Madrid Swenson was also grateful for the scholarship and the help it would provide. 
“It’s really great because I’ve already been offered a scholarship from the school, but it’s a small merit scholarship for small things, whereas $1,000 goes a lot further than one might expect,” Madrid-Swenson said. “It makes me really excited just to have a little bit of help because college isn’t cheap. That’s why many don’t go. So many people are discouraged at that, but I feel like if I just keep doing this [earning scholarships] over and over, I think I can get where I need to be.”