Senior Awards Night will remain on May 12

The New Hampton Dollars for Scholars will hold its annual Senior Awards Night on Tuesday, May 12, as scheduled, but it is going to look entirely different from past events.
Instead of being held at the New Hampton Elementary School Auditorium with students, parents and presenters present, the 2020 edition of Senior Awards Night will be held via Facebook Live on the New Hampton Community Schools’ page, with only four or five committee members actually at the school.
Dollars for Scholars Co-President Dustin Lewis said committee members will read the introduction to each scholarship and then announce the winner of each Dollars for Scholar scholarship.
“It was a really hard decision for us,” Lewis said. “With the school year not resuming and graduation not moving, in the end, we thought we should leave it where it’s at.”
He pointed out that even if Dollars for Scholars moved the program to June, there’s no guarantee it could be held.
“We’ll probably delaying the inevitable,” Lewis said, “because there are events and gatherings being canceled as far out as July. … The other thing, and this is really important, is we also don’t want to delay any students from making decisions about what college they’re attending because they’re waiting to find out how their scholarship applications go.”
Lewis said he believes 49 New Hampton High School students will receive a combined $220,000 during the Awards Night ceremony.
“There is no right answer on this,” he said, “especially when you realize how many unknowns we’re dealing with. But one thing we do know is our community has been incredibly supportive of our program and these students.”