Chamber Honors Top 25 Seniors at Twin Cities High Schools

Fifty of the Twin Cities’ brightest high school seniors were honored Monday at Great Wolf Lodge at the Rob Fuller Scholarship Luncheon.

The Centralia-Chehalis Chamber of Commerce awarded its annual Rob Fuller Scholarship to four local students: Kyle Chaney and Rachel Tennant of W.F. West High School, and brothers Christopher and Nicholaus Martin of Centralia High School. Each scholarship netted the recipient $750 toward their college expenses.

The Rob Fuller Scholarship is named after Fuller, the president and owner of local grocery store chain Fullers. Fuller was a member of the Chamber of Commerce Board who quietly donated and supported several youth activities, including the Centralia skate park. He was also a member of the Chehalis City Council. He died of cancer in 2011.

State Rep. Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis, spoke during the luncheon and encouraged the students in attendance to not only work hard in college, but to remember the cities they grew up in and the people who helped them succeed in life. He encouraged them to return from college and bring fresh perspective to Lewis County. 

“Think about your family and think about your community,” DeBolt said. “Our community needs new ideas, new blood and new people to contribute.”

DeBolt told those present he hoped they encountered some sort of adversity during their college years, and even went so far as to say he hoped they encountered failure so they learn to become stronger from that experience as life goes on.

He also encouraged the students to live in each moment, press hard and put initiative into their next educational adventure — a time in which he reminded them their educational success is completely up to them, as no one will be forcing them to go to class or pushing them to get their homework done.

“Enjoy where you go. Soak it up,” DeBolt said. “Keep your internal pride, and I know you’ll do well.”