Leaving A Legacy

Award Given To Senior Honors Scholar Bowl Alumni

The Trenton Boone Scholar Bowl award was given April 26 in memory of alumni Trenton Boone, who died of brain cancer in the fall of 2021. The award is given in honor of his legacy and dedication to Scholar Bowl.

Former Scholar Bowl coach Jairus Tapp coached the team for six years. He created the award.

“He was a really dedicated kid who loved Scholar Bowl for all the right reasons, who was an excellent teammate,” Tapp said. “Last year, my last year at Staley, I created the award to honor a student on the Scholar Bowl team who embodied his spirit and the way he was as a teammate, his ethics and ethos.”

Tapp said his original idea for the award was to have a plaque in the school, but he decided to have something the chosen student could take with them instead.

“I decided that I would rather have the player be able to take a piece of Trent home with them in that way, " Tapp said. “That plaque doesn’t live at school, instead it lives with the kid.”

Scholar Bowl coach and English teacher Melissa Camarda said to determine the award recipient they look for dedication, leadership and commitment.

“They come to practice, they go and play,” Camarda said.

”They want what is best for the team,” Camarda said. “It’s given to someone we think is the heart of the team, because he was the heart of his team when he was here.”

Tapp said Boone was the kind of kid you wanted to coach or teach.

“He was beyond just a good player, because he was. He was just so much fun. He was just one of those kids where you loved having him at practice because if he didn’t know the answer he was always happy for people that did .He played with a lot of excitement, and just so much positivity,” Tapp said.

Camarda said it was hard to choose this year's award recipient because the team had a lot of seniors.

“The senior that we chose just kind of bubbled to the top as far as somebody that’s been dedicated all year long and has really been present and available for practices and tournaments and been a leader,” Camarda said.

This year's Trenton Boone Award was given to senior Brianne Tremper. She said she felt honored to receive the award.

“It’s important that they have it, to keep his memory going,” Tremper said. “It's just crazy that I was selected.”

Tapp hoped the award would continue throughout the years.

“I hope it keeps going for a long time because he really was a special kid who I think about a lot,” Tapp said. “He was just one of those people who I think gave me a lot of perspective on my own life.”

Written by Fallyn Kowalski Graphics by Grace Winkler