Wekiva senior receives scholarship from Apopka City Commissioners

Becker, Arrowsmith collaborate on Seat 4 Good Scholarship

Khari Brown has been busy this school year. However, a great deal of his energy was used helping other people.

The Wekiva High School senior was part of the Chick-Fil-A Leader Academy where they organized a special prom for ESE students who might not have otherwise been able to attend. He also participated in a national meal-packing event that impacted over a million people, helped with various clean-up projects, helped repaint a school, and participated in Apopka's Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade where he helped spread awareness for equality and a better world.

Oh, and he was also the drum major for the marching band.

At the Wekiva High Awards Ceremony on Monday, Brown was a recipient of Bright Futures, the MLK Jr. Humanitarian Award, and several others including The Seat 4 Good Scholarship given by former Apopka City Commissioner Bill Arrowsmith, and current Seat 4 Apopka City Commissioner Kyle Becker. It is the second year that they have given out the $1,000 scholarship to two high school seniors.

This award seemed to be designed with Brown in mind.

The Seat 4 Good Scholarship ensures the Apopka City Council Seat #4 maintains a legacy of giving back to the community through awarding a college scholarship for $1,000 each to a graduating high school senior from both Apopka and Wekiva High Schools who have exhibited a passion for civics and community service.

To qualify for the scholarship, applicants must be:

A graduating senior

Accepted to accredited college or university

Complete the Seat 4 Good Scholarship application

Letter of recommendation from a non-family member, community leader, administrator, teacher, etc.

The preferences for applicants are:

An Apopka resident

financial need

civic education and or/career path

According to Arrowsmith, there were approximately a dozen applicants, and he was pleased with the choice of Brown.

"I think the scholarship is a great use of funds and I appreciate being included," he said. "Khari Brown was obviously a popular choice as proven by his other awards. You would like to see someone who didn’t receive multiple awards win, but the qualifications speak for themselves. He was a great pick."

Becker too was impressed with Brown's selfless record of helping others.

The Seat 4 Good scholarship was started last year to reward and acknowledge graduating seniors for their service in our Apopka community, and their focus on civics," he said. "At the end of the day, it is about encouraging our next generation of leaders to serve Apopka. "We had a lot of good applicants, so there are a lot of students doing great things here at Wekiva. This year's recipient Khari Brown has really demonstrated service above self with various community projects. We are privileged to award him the Seat 4 Good Scholarship."

Brown will attend the University of Florida in the 2018-19 school year.

Arrowsmith and Becker will be at the Apopka High School Awards Ceremony on May 14th to award the second recipient of the $1,000 Seat 4 Good Scholarship.