Scott Hamiton came home for what he thought would be a distinguished alumni award.
Instead, the Bowling Green Schools Foundation presented him with the inaugural Scott Hamilton Award for Distinguished Alumni, not only recognizing his professional accomplishments but his commitment to service and philanthropy.
“I love this town … I’m just so proud to be a son of this town,” Hamilton said.
The Bowling Green Schools Foundation celebrated 25 years with a celebration on Monday, where it honored an outstanding educator and community member and welcomed Hamilton home.
Hamilton said his entire family was dedicated to serving as teachers and the only excuse he had for not being a great student was that he was adopted.
Hamilton won four consecutive U.S. figure skating championships and four consecutive world championships from 1981-84 and won the gold medal in the 1984 Olympics.
“It’s those memories that just carry you through life in such remarkable way,” he said after recounting sixth grade events at Kenwood Elementary School.
Hamilton gave a shot out to the Edwards family, saying he had a crush on one of Dick and Nadine Edwards’ daughters.
“I saw her recently, she looks good,” Hamilton said.
“There’s no better community I can think of than this beautiful town where there’s as many churches, bars and pizza pubs. That’s the rule, you’ve got to be an equal amount,” he said.
“It’s always the people that make a place remarkable,” he said. “It’s not about history or architecture … there are no better people than the people of Bowling Green, Ohio.”
Hamilton touched on his mom’s battle with cancer and the fact he didn’t do well in the last competition she saw him in before she died.
His Scott Hamilton CARES Foundation on the day of his 40th anniversary of winning gold announced a clinical trial to treat the cancer his mom had.
“This is a true celebration of life,” he said about the night’s event. “I’m just so humbled and honored that you would do this for me.”
Also honored during the evening were social studies teacher and track coach Pat Carney with the Excellence in Education Award and Bowling Green native Nick Snyder with the Community Member of the Year Award.
The Bowling Green Schools Foundation was founded in 1999 with the simple goal of making a lasting impact on the lives of students and educators, said BGSF President Joe Edens.
Since then, the foundation has contributed more than $500,000 in direct funding to enrich the educational experience of our students, he said.
Marcia Sloan Latta, president of the Bowling Green Community Foundation, spoke on how the schools foundation started and by whom. She gave credit to then Superintendent Hugh Caumartin; Lee Hakel, who later became a school board member; and local philanthropist Ashel Bryan, who provided the seed money.
Melanie Ferguson, eighth grade science teacher at Bowling Green Middle School and BGSF member, shared how the foundation helps teachers and students go beyond what they think is possible.
When she taught at the former junior high school on Wooster Street, she received a BGSF grant for a weather station. It was placed on the roof with a wire dropping into her third-story classroom window that transferred all the data.
“We were able to provide an experience for our students that was beyond. It was beyond what they told us we had to teach. … To pretend you’re a meteorologist and take the data and read the forecast on the announcements … that was something different, that was something beyond,” she said.
“Because of the Bowling Green Schools Foundation, we’ve been achieving our beyond for 25 years,” she said.
More recently, the eighth-grade math teachers received a grant for glow math, where they used special paper and pens, special clothing, blackout curtains on the windows and did everything under a black light.
That was what all the kids talked about and this year they’re already asking when they will do glow math, she said.
The extras are what students are going to remember 10 years after they graduate, she said.
“The dreams that go beyond the normal, it helps to not only keep us fresh and engaged but it really does a lot to get our students excited as well,” Fergson said.
The foundation does more than teacher grants and scholarships: It helps fund after prom, 1BookBG, fifth grade camp, 10,000 eclipse glass for everyone involved in the district and classroom supplies.
“Schools cannot achieve success in isolation,” said Bowling Green City Schools Superintendent Ted Haselman. “We rely on the support of the community and individuals such as yourself as you play a vital role to our success.”
He said the district was fortunate Hamilton was willing to continue giving back to Bowling Green.
“Tonight was a great testament for all the award winners,” he said. “Bowling Green is a great place … I’ve learned that in the 15 months I’ve been here,” he said.
“As we look ahead, our mission remains clear: To continue empowering our schools and our community to continue to be better, stronger and more equipped to face the future,” Edens said.
