Emily Schmidt, a 2025 graduate of Columbus Bishop Watterson High School, is this year’s recipient of the Wendy O. Ward Foundation memorial scholarship.
Her activities at Watterson included being a member of the marching, jazz, and concert bands, the pit orchestra and the swimming team for all four years there, serving as swim team captain in her senior year. She also was very involved in service activities at Bella Care Hospice and Friendship Village of Dublin. She plans to attend the University of Notre Dame and hopes to study psychology.
Wendy Ward, a graduate of Bishop Luers High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and of the University of Dayton, was grateful for her Catholic education and always said she counted herself lucky to do something not all English majors can – use her skills and write every day for her company, Constructive Communication Inc., where she was vice president.
Her husband, Chris, a graduate of Columbus St. Charles Preparatory School, established the scholarships in 2015 in memory of his wife, a Hilliard resident who died of breast cancer on May 18, 2012 after a 10-year career as a writer and public relations consultant.
The scholarships are awarded to a graduate of a Columbus diocesan or Hilliard public high school who has been involved in school, community and parish activities and has demonstrated academic achievement, particularly in language arts. Schmidt received $5,000 for college expenses. The Ward foundation pays the scholarship money directly to the institution the recipient plans to attend.