The Hiram College Hal Reichle Scholarship
Awarded to Hiram College sophomores or juniors for community serving and giving.
The measure of one’s love for humanity does not manifest itself through words or feelings, but rather in behavior. Thus, it is in one’s demonstrated generosity, understanding, compassion, kindness, and guiding hand that exhibit one’s willingness to love his fellowman.
Occasionally we meet someone harboring the spirit of genuine, fundamental goodness. Such a rare individual is difficult to discern, for their gifts of love and kindness are often accomplished through their own initiatives, rather than through established channels at institutions like Hiram College. Such a person loves and honors almost everyone, not to please oneself or others, but simply because it enriches the world’s goodness. We are not speaking of a devout missionary or a church representative, but rather someone having within them a measure of musketeer who makes the act of giving an exciting quest and a fun-filled adventure.
Hal Reichle was such a rare individual. To Hal, helping others was fun; it was the reason he was born. Friends, total strangers, millionaires, and the homeless became the recipient of Hal’s simple goodness. An elderly woman awakened to find her lawn had been mysteriously mowed. A schoolteacher found her driveway shoveled and free from snow. Someone else found his house freshly painted upon returning from vacation. A young mother and three-small children discovered they were “alleged” to be the 500th customer at the supermarket checkout line; therefore, their groceries were free. A young man rejected for a college student loan suddenly found it approved. Several individuals, all temporarily short of funds, discovered bags of groceries at their front door. There was never a note left from anyone offering an explanation for serendipity’s visit. Additional examples of Hal’s genuine goodness are virtually endless.
The Hal Reichle Memorial Award is not based on perfect class attendance, and it is not based on financial need. One’s acts of kindness serve as a major indicator of an individual’s qualifications for this scholarship. The recipient is chosen for his/her humanitarian efforts, community involvement, and volunteerism. Thus, it is in one’s behavior - the generosity, understanding compassion, kindness, and guiding hand - that exhibits one’s willingness to love, and one’s unique and rare qualifications for this Award. Hence, applications for the Scholarship are not required.
This is a two-facetted Award comprising a tuition grant plus an enrichment component that should lead to further discovery and growth. The Award is void of any considerations regarding sex, race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, or other similar, inconsequential attributes. The Award is not always given each year, for understandably, qualified recipients cannot always be located. When the Award Committee is successful, however, a very rare individual has been found. This recipient, harboring a heart of simple goodness, is destined to enrich scores of peoples’ lives. Know him well, or know her well, and your life will be positively enriched from the experience.
Two Hiram College Juniors awarded the 2004 Hal Reichle Memorial Scholarship
Despite a power outage and stormy weather members of the Hiram community, friends, family, and surrounding communities came together on Friday, May 21st to remember Hal Reichle and honor the 2004 Hal Reichle Memorial Scholarship winners.
Hal Reichle was a 1986 graduate of Hiram College killed in 1991 in a helicopter crash during Operation Desert Storm. Hal left behind a legacy of performing anonymous good deeds for total strangers. Hal performed these “random acts” simply for the joy of spreading goodness and kindness. Hal’s family and friends established the Hal Reichle Memorial Scholarship as a way to remember Hal’s spirit and love of life and to reward Hiram students for exemplifying the same qualities that made Hal such a memorable person.
This year’s winners include Barrie Schmidt and Danielle Loach, both Hiram College Juniors. Both recipients will receive tuition support as well as an enrichment component that may be used for activities available from Hiram or activities that without the award assistance the recipients would be unable to participate. Neither recipient applied or had any indication that they were candidates for the award. No applications are available for the scholarship but instead a secret committee looks for Hiram students who do good deeds for others without seeking acknowledgment. Recipients find out they have won only when the final decision has been made and the award is theirs.
Barrie Schmidt, the first recipient, is a Communications major from Cuyahoga Falls , Ohio with a 3.2 GPA. Barrie stays very busy while at Hiram as a Resident Assistant, a Vencl-Carr Career Assistant, Assistant Director for the production of “Clue”, working for Habitat for Humanity on alternative spring break trips, and serving on numerous search committees. Barrie ’s peers describe her as “caring, kind, honest, ethical, friendly, positive, reliable, someone who enjoys life and as the kind of person who leads by example.” Barrie plans to use her enrichment component to travel to the Czech Republic to immerse herself in the local culture, live in youth hostels and “put her knowledge and education to good use.”
Danielle “Danni” Loach, the second recipient, is a Sociology major and Gender Studies minor from Rome , Ohio with a 3.8 GPA. Danni has served as a Red Cross campus contact for three years now and can be seen organizing blood drives on campus and even dressing as the Red Cross blood drop to get students and staff to donate blood. Danni has also worked in the Office of Community Service for the last three years, is a member of the Stone Soup Co-op, and has served as a Vencl-Carr Teaching Assistant for the past two years in the New Student Colloquium Program. Danni has been described as “sweet, supportive, loving, and as someone who enjoys helping others and takes great pride and pleasure in the accomplishments of others. For her enrichment component Danni plans to Study Abroad with other Hiram students in Guatemala and Honduras .