Recent Olympia High School graduate Ezra Boyer has a promising future. At least, that was the impression the John and Opal McGimpsey Scholarship Committee held when they awarded him $40,000 through the John and Opal McGimpsey Scholarship Fund in June 2014. Ezra will have access to $10,000 each year to be used for tuition, fees, books, and school-sponsored student housing.
“I still can’t believe it,” Ezra said in amazement. “It completely changed my financial situation and I will always be grateful.” The scholarship aims to reward students who believe that education is important, students who may not necessarily be the highest scholastic achievers, but who have a strong work ethic, as well as ability and commitment.
As always, the competition was close. But according to Anne Kirske, Programs and Communications Manager for The Community Foundation that oversees the scholarship committee, the overriding factor in choosing Ezra for the award was his attitude. “He exemplifies many of the McGimpsey family values: he’s hardworking, outgoing, generous, helps others, and he was not only a good scholar but a good musician,” she said.
“The most important thing was that we couldn’t see him not succeeding,” Anne emphasized.
Indeed, when talking with Ezra, curiosity and a genuine hunger for knowledge and helping others emerged. I asked him, “Tell me about yourself academically,” and his response was unique. He didn’t tell me about grades, he didn’t mention AP or Honors courses (although he took many), he didn’t complain about homework or brag about how many classes he had aced.
Instead, he said slowly, enunciating each and every syllable, “I love learning.” Then, speeding up, he continued on, his voice filled with excitement, “It allows you to see the world in a different way, to recognize something beyond its surface qualities.”
The scholarship process was extensive. Applicants had to submit a personal statement, transcript, two letters of recommendations, a copy of their student aid report, and the actual application.
Working in Ezra’s favor was a variety of leadership and extracurricular activities. Some of his biggest leadership experience has come from sailing. Ezra started sailing on the Olympia Yacht Club High School Sailing Team his junior year of high school.
“It was a leap of faith. I didn’t have any experience at all,” Ezra confessed. Right after joining the team, he was “taken under the wings” of two outgoing seniors, who taught him everything they knew. “It was an exponential learning curve and I got super involved.”
By senior year, he was team captain. What’s more, he’s turned his love of sailing into a job, teaching two different sailing courses every week (Lil Luffers Class and the Junior Jibers Class) at the Olympia Yacht Club. “It’s awesome. I’m on the water doing what I love, how much better can it get?” he asked me with a grin.
Aside from sailing, Ezra has also been a leader in the music arena. “I’ve always been around music. My dad was the curator for the Washington Center for the Performing Arts so we had eclectic music playing around the house all the time,” said Ezra. “I love everything from classical – Mozart, Beethoven – to West African music and Indy Pop.”
At the suggestion of his parents, he joined choir in middle school, “fell in love with it,” and continued singing all the way through high school. Ezra also plays musical instruments, mainly the piano.
As a junior, Ezra was one of the two juniors to be selected for the Chamber Choir, the “highest” and most selective choir at Olympia High School. Contrary to regular choir classes, which seek to meld into one cohesive voice, chamber choir focuses on solos and comes with a lot more freedom. Together, the choir chooses its own songs and arrangements. “Chamber choir also travels a lot. At Christmas time, we would always skip school and go sing for people out in the community,” explained Ezra.
One of Ezra’s biggest choral accomplishments was being awarded the Choir Peer-Selected Recognition Award. Like the name suggests, the award goes to one senior each year who has been a leader in the choir and deserves recognition. “Whenever I vote for someone to get an award like this, I think of someone who shows kindness, talent, and leadership. So to think that my peers viewed me in this light was really special,” said Ezra. He attributes much of his choral success to his choir teachers, George Strid and Dan Schwartz, who nurtured his interest.
Moving forwards, Ezra will be attending the University of Washington. He plans to go into science. “I love chemistry and I really enjoy biology so I’m thinking about combining the two for a biochem major,” Ezra explained. He’ll also be joining both the sailing team and the choir. “I’m just super excited for people teaching me ‘how to science,’ for talking to professors about mind blowing subjects, and brainstorming with others.”
His final words: “It’s going to be awesome.”