New scholarship created for Huntington students

CHILLICOTHE – A Huntington High School graduating senior will benefit from a new scholarship recently created in memory of a 1941 graduate who was active as a patron of the arts and in several community organizations during her lifetime.

The Scioto Foundation announced the creation of the Zelma Riley Lapp Scholarship Fund, established in her memory by her three daughters, Barbara Bradbury, of Otway, and Debbie Bay and Jane Collins, of Columbus. The scholarship, the amount of which was not specified, will be awarded to a graduating senior at Huntington High School.

To be eligible for the scholarship, students must carry a minimum 3.0 grade point average on a 4.0 scale and have a combined ACT score of at least 20. They also must enter a two- or four-year accredited college or university in the U.S. as a full-time student and must complete and submit the scholarship application on file with the high school guidance counselor.

Scholarship funds may be used for books and supplies, tuition and fees or room and board.

“My sisters, Debbie and Jane, and I are thrilled to create this scholarship fund with the Scioto Foundation so that future students from mother’s high school have financial assistance to help make college a reality,” said Barbara Bradbury, spokesperson for the family. “College was our mother’s dream for a life full of promise and opportunity. She would be excited to know that a fund is created in her name. All of us girls graduated from college and now there are four PhD’s among mom’s children, grandchildren and spouses.”

Huntington guidance counselor Anita Rogers said the financial assistance for students is welcome.

“Huntington High School is a rural school with a total enrollment of just under 400 students,” Rogers said. “The Ohio Department of Education ranks the district’s poverty rate at third in the state. There are significant financial barriers for our students who have post-secondary plans. On a positive note, I am proud to say that 39 percent of our seniors from last year planned to attend a four-year institution upon graduation. Students who go on are, for the most part, first-generation college students.

“Any assistance in the form of scholarships is like gold to us, especially when it comes from a source with ties to the community and a family commitment to help our students persevere.”

Lapp was born in 1923 in Pike County, where she attended one-room schools until 1932 when her family — which owned a sawmill and maintained a farm — moved to Huntington Township. A good student in high school – where she sang, played cello in the orchestra, directed a small school band and played on the girls’ basketball team — Lapp went on to graduate from Kent State University and return to the local area as a teacher at Adelphi and Chillicothe high schools. She also was an elder at First Presbyterian Church, a Girl Scout troop leader, camp counselor and adult trainer, and was involved in other community organizations as the first president of the J-C-Ettes, past president of the Junior Civic League and serving on the board of trustees of the Scioto-Paint Valley Guidance Center and Board of Governors at Hopeton Village.

In her later years, she was a member of the PEO Sisterhood, a patron of the Scioto Valley Arts Council and a Founders Club member of the Pump House Center for the Arts and Majestic Theatre. She died on June 22, 2014.

For additional information about establishing scholarship funds through the Scioto Foundation or other types of planned giving, contact Executive Director Kim Cutlip at 740-354-4612 or at kim.sciotofoundation@frontier.com.