This year we had a very difficult time deciding an essay winner. There were so many well written papers that captured the spirit of Magnolia Son’s motto of Live Life Large but more importantly captured bits and pieces of Christian. Our 10 person panel reviewed each essay and a lot of time was spent going back and forth about which essay was “the best”. At the end of the day we couldn’t definitively say one was better than another. It was obvious that each of the participants did some soul searching and put thought into their writing. I cannot express how much that means to Christian’s family. I wish this year we could give everyone a scholarship because it was deserved by everyone who submitted an essay. At the end of the day it came down to how the essay made us feel not necessarily the written words.
The Magnolia Son family would like to congratulate Savannah Pope on being chosen for the Christian Shane Andreacchio Memorial Scholarship. We wish her the best next year as she pursues her academic goals but most importantly… that she pursues happiness and her dreams.
Today I will be attending a graduation ceremony to watch my nephew receive his diploma. Days like this will always be bittersweet…..but one of the essays said it very well when they stated “it is a goal to live your life large… but even better to live your life loved.”
PS:
We would like to wish Christian’s cousin Parker the best as he starts his next chapter. Christian always said Parker had a little Andreacchio in him 🙂 I can see him now coming in from spending the day at Tracy’s, shaking his head, grinning and saying “Parker’s going to give Tracy some grey hair!”….. and then all of us laughing, shaking our head and knowing we were all going to enjoy watching Parker grow up!!!
