Harvey earns the Dinah Shore Scholarship, Martin receives the Phyllis G. Meekins award
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., August 2, 2017 – Emily Harvey and Gabrielle Martin have been selected by The LPGA Foundation as the two high school graduates who will receive this year’s Dinah Shore and Phyllis G. Meekins Scholarships.
Both candidates have demonstrated outstanding academic excellence, leadership skills and active involvement and service to their communities while also fulfilling the specific requirements for each scholarship award.
Dinah Shore Scholarship
Harvey, a graduate of Crown Point High School in Crown Point, Indiana, is this year’s Dinah Shore Scholarship recipient. The $5,000 scholarship was established in 1994 to honor the late Dinah Shore, a Hollywood legend and honorary member of the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame. The annual Dinah Shore Scholarship is awarded to a female high school senior who will attend college but not play collegiate golf.
Harvey graduated with numerous awards, including the Summa Cum Laude & honor roll every quarter for each of her four years in high school, being honored as an Indiana Academic All-Star, and becoming a National Merit Scholarship Finalist. Harvey was twice voted as the MVP on her high school golf team and was also a three-time All-Conference Selection. Among her other accomplishments was winning gold at the Indiana State School Music Association District and State violin solo competition.
Harvey plans to attend Purdue University in West Lafayette Indiana, where she will pursue a degree in Chemical Engineering. Harvey would like to "make a real impact in the world" as a chemical engineer working in the field of energy with the goal of building cheaper and more durable solar panels and making more efficient wind turbines.
To qualify for the Dinah Shore Scholarship, the applicant must have a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.2; must have played in a minimum of 50 percent of her high school golf team’s scheduled events or regularly played golf for the past two years; must have demonstrated leadership skills and/or extraordinary community involvement; and must have been accepted to an accredited undergraduate academic program.
Phyllis G. Meekins Scholarship
Established in 2006, the Phyllis G. Meekins Scholarship awards $1,250 to a female high school senior from a minority background, who will be pursuing a full-time course of study and playing collegiate golf at an accredited college or university in the United States. Martin, a 2017 graduate of Daniel Hand High School in Madison, Connecticut where she had a cumulative grade point average of 3.73, is this year’s recipient.
Captain of her school's golf, cross country and basketball teams in her final year, Martin became a member of the National Honor Society, was selected for the Girls Academic All State Basketball team and was voted the Hartford Courant Girl Golfer of the Year. She represented the Daniel Hand golf team for each of her four years in high school and was Clinton Country Club's youngest women's champion in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Martin was also a mentor and instructor for the Madison Youth Basketball Association.
Martin will be attending Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, where she plans to play golf and major in Biochemistry before going on to medical school.
The namesake of the scholarship, the late Phyllis G. Meekins, became a member of the LPGA Teaching and Club Professionals in 1981, earning Life Member status in 2001. Known for her dedication to junior golf, Meekins established the Phyllis G. Meekins (PGM) Golf Clinic, Inc. at Mount Airy’s Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Philadelphia, Penn., in 1973. Under Meekins’ guidance, thousands of students have participated in the PGM Golf Clinics, and through developing life skills such as perseverance, goal setting, self-discipline and leadership, many have also gone on to achieve significant success, both in the classroom, as well as in their careers.
Meekins was inducted into the National African American Golfers Hall of Fame in 1984 and was nominated for the 1993 LPGA Teacher of the Year award. She was recognized by the National Golf Foundation (NGF) with the NGF Out-standing Service Award.