The annual Student Memorial Service hosted by the West Texas A&M Student Government was held on April 23 at Joseph A. Hill Memorial Chapel. Scholarships were awarded to junior Sports and Exercise Science major James Anderson and sophomore Wildlife Biology major Madison Heacock. The scholarships were in the memory of former students Melissa R. Lewis and Brandon C. Turner. Both were current students and passed away within the past academic year.

The service began with an introduction by WT’s Student Body President Edward Akinyemi, followed by a statement by Vice President of Student Affairs Mike Knox. There was a brief message from Baptist Student Ministry Coordinator Buddy Young. Student Body Vice President Conrad Navarro presented the scholarships before Buffs For Christ Director Kent Mereness closed out the service with the benediction.

The scholarships represent a deep meaning to the families of the students they are in memory of and to West Texas A&M, according to Akinyemi. Akinyemi said the scholarships allow the students’ memories to move on and lets the families know that their child is still moving on in a way.

“We lost students, but now they can live forever,” Akinyemi said. “The way the scholarships are chosen is students apply from that major of the student that passed away. It ties in what they loved doing and helped their peers pay for college. It’s never easy to lose someone, but now [the families] can see their child’s work done through the students that received the scholarship.”

Both Anderson and Heacock were extremely honored to be awarded the scholarships. Anderson said that he was incredibly humbled, and understood that it isn’t a scholarship he wants to take lightly.

“I understand the gravity and the magnitude of the loss,” Anderson said. “It saddens me we lost a pair of Buffs. Being on the baseball team, we kind of become a community. For a mother to lose a son, and a father to lose a daughter, there’s no worst feeling in the world and I’m humbled to carry out their memory and graduating with a degree in Sports and Exercise Science next Spring.”

Heacock repeated many of the same sentiments of Anderson and said the scholarship would hopefully help her obtain her dream of being a park ranger eventually.

“It means a lot,” Heacock said. “I’m majoring in Wildlife Biology and want to be a park ranger some day, and this will help me a lot to get there.”

Cynthia Turner, the mother of Brandon Turner, was ecstatic when she found out that the scholarship would be in memory of Brandon. She said it was amazing and completely unexpected.

“It’s amazing,” Cynthia Turner said. “What an honor. We were surprised. I wasn’t aware of anything like this going. It’s an honor that Brandon’s name is on it.”