By Lisa Scott
Special to The SUN
Austin Drake has been awarded the Chase Regester Memorial Scholarship and will receive $950 for the 2014-15 academic year.
This scholarship is designed to honor the memory of Charles L. “Chase” Regester III (May 29, 1986-Aug. 2, 2006), who was raised on a ranch and spent his childhood and youth involved in 4-H, rodeos and ranch life. He graduated from Pagosa Springs High School in May 2005 and was pursuing ranching as a career. Chase loved animals, the great outdoors, his friends and family and had a great sense of humor and a “whipping and spurring” approach to life.
This scholarship was endowed by Mr. and Mrs. Robert Lindner to honor Chase and his family for living and preserving the history and traditions of the American West. Mr. and Mrs. Charles Russell, Jr. added to that endowment.
Austin has been involved with 4-H since 2005 and has raised and shown goats, pigs and turkeys. He has had numerous successes with his animals by placing within the class a number of times.
“Holding some of the various offices in my local 4-H club has taught me to prioritize my schedule by showing up for meetings, on time and prepared,” stated Austin.
He plans to attend a vocational program to study automotive technology. After obtaining his training certification, his goals include working for a car dealership and eventually going into business for himself repairing and restoring classic automobiles. Austin maintains a 3.0 GPA and has taken a variety of automotive classes in high school.
This scholarship is designed to support a student pursuing post-secondary education of any variety, which can include university, college, community college, technical, business, vocational, agricultural or ranch training program. The basic requirement for any scholarship applicant is that they have participated in rodeo, 4-H, FFA or have agriculture or ranching background and upbringing during their high school years.
