By Kevin Brown
Eagle Times General Manager
Among the sounds of former radio personality Paul Harvey and his speech, “So God Made a Farmer,” the Windsor High School Class of 1982 awarded a new scholarship to Trevin Shute on Saturday.
The award was presented at Boston Dreams Coffee, Food and Sports Gallery, 7 State St., Windsor.
According to Daniel Hamel, a spokesman for the class, the scholarship is focused on a graduating senior going into a trade. Shute will work on his family’s generations-old dairy farm in Hartland, VT. The farm sells much of its production to the Cabot Creamery Cooperative, Waitsfield, VT.
“Farming is the hardest occupation there is,” Hamel said. “It’s rare that someone steps into a seven-day-a-week job; it is so honorable. Farmers go unrecognized.”
The Shute Farm dates back to around the 1900s and operates a 120-head dairy cattle operation.
Shute said the farm is a cherished family business.
“I will be joining and following in my father’s and grandfather’s footsteps,” Shute said after receiving the scholarship check. “It means a lot when people recognize farmers. I enjoy working with the cows and working the land owned by my family for hundreds of years. It is an awesome way of life.”
Hamel said the 68-member class actually awarded two scholarships this year – one that went to support a grant going to WHS students attending a vocational school, and this second one that more closely matches the intention of the class members for the award.
“The scholarship originally started last year after the class won second place in the Alumni Parade for its float,” he said. “We decided we would take the $200 and use it to start a scholarship. Through our Facebook group, Class of ‘82 members chipped in more money. Over a three- to four-week period, we collected $2,000. The school created two $1,000 scholarships that were awarded on a recommendation from the Hartford Area Career and Technology Center, White River Junction, VT.”
Class members, however, really wanted the money to go to a WHS student going straight into the work world. So, members took up a second scholarship collection and raised $1,700 for the Class of ‘82 Trade Scholarship.
“The money came from class members who are spread out all over the country,” Hamel said. “Tami Weeks, owner of Tami’s Head Lines in Windsor, told us Trevin’s story. I know him; I watched Trevin grow up on Facebook. We all knew the family. And the checks came in. This is our way of leaving a legacy in the name of our class. This will help get Trevin going.”
Hamel said he hopes the trade scholarship inspires other classes to create something similar and leave their own legacy for future WHS students. The Windsor High School Alumni Association is the second-oldest active alumni group in the country – right behind Claremont.
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