Hiram – Once again, Hiram-based Communications Factory marketing firm has found an unusual way to reward a local student. This year, much to her surprise, Chardon High School senior Courtney Kernc became the Factory’s 2016 Scholarship winner. Instead of just showing up at her Senior Banquet to hand over a check, Communications Factory Plant Manager, Brad Turner, decided to make the presentation more memorable by surprising her with a few balloons on a random afternoon in May.
With some behind-the-scenes help from her parents, Turner and his Communications Factory staff located Courtney’s car in a parking lot and quickly blanketed it with bright green balloons, window paint, and plenty of fake Factory money. She approached, utterly surprised, wondering what in the world had happened, until Turner appeared to congratulate her on her scholarship win. See the video for yourself at the Communications Factory YouTube page: http://ow.ly/qRqt300dImh.
As a part of the Communications Factory Scholarship application, students must create a video or write an essay offering a solution to one of their community’s environmental challenges. In her application, Kernc submitted an essay with a viable suggestion on how to deal with unwanted household items, based on the old adage that ‘one man’s trash is another man’s treasure’. Her solution: host a Treasure Hunt Day, where residents place unwanted items on their tree lawn for would-be treasure hunters to find. Instead of simply tossing viable items in the trash at the annual community cleanup day, a large number of items would be diverted from landfills and reused.
“There are sales goals, there are marketing goals, and there are life goals,” explained Turner. “We believe in the importance of all three. That’s why each year for the past 14, we’ve given a $1,000 college scholarship to a deserving local student,” Turner stated. “At the Factory, we pride ourselves on getting results with our creative thinking,” he continued. “We appreciated Courtney’s unusual solution, and applaud her for her outstanding achievements at school and in her community. We’re proud to select her as our winner this year,” Turner beamed.
Lettering in Competitive Cheerleading, while participating in choir, she also found time to volunteer at her church and in her community. An outstanding student, Kernc has served as a leader among her peers; she was also selected to participate in the prestigious Leadership Geauga Youth Program. She will be attending the University of Cincinnati this fall to study engineering.
The Communications Factory awards scholarships to deserving local High School seniors each spring to help defray the cost of their continuing education. Local winners have been chosen from schools in Akron, Stow, Hudson, and the Crestwood School District. For more information, visit: communicationsfactory.net/scholarship.
