Putnam West Senior Named Horatio Alger Scholar
Recognition Includes $20,000 Scholarship

Putnam City West High School senior Chris Countryman has been selected as a Horatio Alger National Scholar, an honor that includes a $20,000 college scholarship and an expense-paid trip to a conference in Washington, D.C.

The Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans annually awards more than 100 college scholarships of $20,000 each to students in the 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Countryman was one of 100-plus scholarship recipients selected from more than 50,000 applicants nationwide.

As one of the nation’s largest college financial aid programs in the country, the Horatio Alger National Scholars Program is the only major scholarship effort that specifically assists high school students who have faced and overcome great obstacles in their young lives. And while many aid programs are directed primarily to recognizing academic achievement or leadership potential, the Horatio Alger program also seeks students who have a commitment to use their college degrees in service to others.

“I’m thrilled that Chris Countryman has won this award. Chris is an outstanding young man. He’s hard working, dedicated and disciplined. He’s the type of student that sees a problem and immediately begins to figure ways to solve it. He has an optimistic and pleasant attitude that makes it a joy to be around him,” says Linda Brown, drama teacher at Putnam City West. Countryman will play the role of the Cowardly Lion in the school’s production of The Wizard of Oz later this year.

To earn the recognition, Countryman and the other recipients completed an application on the Horatio Alger Web site describing adversities they have encountered in their lives and how they used hard work, integrity and perseverance to overcome them.

In addition to the scholarship, the honor includes a trip to the Horatio Alger National Scholars Conference in April in Washington, D. C. Scholarship winners from across the country will take part in four days of educational activities.

While in the nation’s capitol, students will also be present at the annual Horatio Alger awards ceremony, where 10 Americans will receive the Horatio Alger Award for overcoming humble beginnings to achieve professional success. Students will also meet many of the members of the association, distinguished Americans who have also overcome obstacles and triumphed over adversity to achieve success in their lives. The members of the association take the role of mentoring and encouraging students to fulfill their potential and attain their professional goals.

The Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, a non-profit educational association, was founded in 1947 with the goal of providing role models to reinforce the values of integrity, hard work, dedication and service to others.