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Chess Scholarship and Senior Awards (2021-2022 Season)

The POLK SCHOLASTIC CHESS COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP awards were announced by Ms. Arlene Gable, Board Member and Secretary. Each year, Polk Scholastic Chess recognizes two graduating seniors with scholarships towards their continuing education each year. These students need to have an extended length of participation with Polk Scholastic Chess, win our essay contest and must have made active contributions to their school and community. The judging criteria includes grammar, syntax, vocabulary, extracurricular activities, community service and number of years with Polk Scholastic Chess.

The winners of this year’s Polk Scholastic Chess Scholarship are Niriham Shah (first place; $1,500 scholarship) from Bartow IB, and Jacob Cunningham (second place;  $500 scholarship) from Lake Gibson Senior.

Niriham Shah was recognized by the board for having played at the Polk Scholastic Chess tournaments for 14 years, from Pre-K to 12th grade, and is awarded the President's Award.

Recipients of these scholarships will receive the award after confirmation of enrollment in college. Any recipient that does not provide proof of enrollment from the Registrar’s office for the first fall semester after graduation will forfeit their scholarship. At the same time fees for the semester must have been paid in the college of your choice. If the scholarship is not claimed within the first semester after graduating from high school, it will be forfeited. Checks will be mailed to the recipients in the month of October 2022 or later.
 
Special thanks to Ms. Arlene Gable (our Secretary and Board Member since 16 years) for coordinating this year's contest and for ensuring that fair judging is conducted by esteemed leaders from our academic community.

Lastly, the board has decided to honor all senior chess players who are graduating this year, by awarding a small memento. Please join us to congratulate these outstanding players and the future of America!
 

NIRIHAM SHAH, Bartow High School/IB
ANDY JIMENEZ, McKeel Academy Of Technology
DAVID FILIPOWICZ, Bartow High School/IB
JACOB CUNNINGHAM, Lake Gibson High School
KESHAWN JONES, Ridge Community Senior
KEVIN TANG, All Saints Academy
KYLA PIOTROWSKI, McKeel Academy Of Technology
LOGAN JOHNSON, Haines City Senior
NATHANIEL EARY, Haines City Senior
NEHEMIAH THUNDER, Kathleen Senior
SATVIK GUNJALA, Bartow High School/IB
TONIANN ROYE, Haines City Senior


Instructions to all winners: Send an email to president@polkscholasticchess.com to coordinate the pickup of the certificates and trophies from a location in Lakeland.


Sincerely

Board Members
Polk Scholastic Chess


IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT for tournaments in the 2022 - 2023 season:  

Note the dates:

    First Tournament: Saturday, 10/15/2022

    Second Tournament: Saturday, 11/5/2022

    Third Tournament: Saturday, 12/3/2022

    Fourth Tournament: Saturday, 1/14/2023

    Championship Tournament: Saturday, 3/4/2023

 



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Special Thanks
to our distinguished Judges!
The distinguished judges for this season are as below, and we are deeply honored to have such support from them.
 
 

Ms. Lisa Miller (District 7) Polk County School Board.
 She received her bachelor’s degree in mass communications/public relations from the University of South Florida. Miller worked in corporate advertising before serving as a classroom teacher for three years. Ms. Miller has chaired the Polk County ESE Advisory Committee and represents Polk County as a member of Florida’s State Advisory Committee on Exceptional Student Education with the Florida Department of Education.  She was appointed to chair the Family Care Council for Area 14 in 2012 by Gov. Rick Scott.  Her most recent gubernatorial appointment was to the Florida Developmental Disability Council in 2018. Locally, she worked with the City of Lakeland to form the Alliance on Accessibility and hire its first full-time ADA coordinator.


Brett N. Lowe,  eDiscovery Senior Review Manager at Consilio, LLC.Brett
Brett N. Lowe grew up in Polk County and became involved in Polk Scholastic Chess at an early age. The program nourished discipline and critical thinking, which paved the way for his academic success, and he graduated from International Baccalaureate at Bartow High School in 2001. The competitive drive he developed playing chess stayed with him, pushing him to earn his J.D. from Levin College of Law at the University of Florida and join the Florida Bar in 2013. He now lives in Tampa where he has overseen hundreds of attorneys as an eDiscovery Senior Review Manager at Consilio, LLC.Brett


Susan Chere Mask, Teacher, Singing Ventriloquist at P.E.E.P.S Inc.
Ms. Chere Mask has been in the Florida Education system in Hardee and Polk County for 30 years.  She has been teaching in Polk County for the last 17 years and currently works at George Jenkins Senior High teaching Algebra and travels during the summer performing ventriloquism. She has worked with organizations such as South Florida State College, Warner University, Big Brother's, Big Sisters, Make a Wish Foundation, Jerry Lewis MDA Marathon and many other various organizations as a motivational speaker and advocate.  She has held over 30 talent titles in the state of Florida as well as receiving awards, grants and scholarships from diverse organizations throughout the state of Florida.

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