Last night the WYMT Mountain Classic honored 142 seniors with $1,000 scholarships. It was my fourth experience, as I’ve been blessed in that all four of my wonderful children received the scholarship. Each presentation I attended was different, and it was nice to see that WYMT was working to improve each presentation. Last night’s presentation was probably the best one I’d attended, but in some ways, it was also the worst.

The best part was that the scholarship presentations were separated from the basketball games. This is a great idea, and this was the first year the two events were separated. When doing the presentations on the same night as the opening round of the basketball games, the focus is divided between scholarship winners and the basketball games. By doing the scholarships on a separate night, these students receive greater recognition.

Other positive changes were the opening reception for the scholarship recipients and their guests and a gym decorated appropriately and nicely for the presentations. The foods served at the reception were very elegant and worthy of such a ceremony. The decorated gym provided plenty of room. The acoustics were good, so all the speakers were easily heard.

There were some things, however, that WYMT should consider for next year’s program to continue to improve. I do suggest they keep the scholarships separated from the opening night of the basketball games. It does better recognize those students, and it does relieve them from a parking nightmare. I suggest, though, that they outline the evening’s events in the award letter. There was nothing in our letter to indicate the evening would be as long as it was.

The evening was too long. The reception started at 6:00 P.M. and it was nearly 7:00 P.M. before the actual presentations started. They had several speakers, and so we all sat through nearly 50 minutes of speakers before they even started awarding the 142 scholarships. Each scholarship recipient met with their sponsor and posed for a photo, and while I understand that was important, it took a lot of time. Student who were not there to receive their award had their name called and the sponsor had a photo taken by him- or herself. We were there for almost three hours. Given that I wasn’t feeling well to start with and had about an hour’s drive to get back home, it was just too long. And there were folks who had a longer drive than I did. So, here are my suggestions for improvement.

First, start the reception earlier, especially if it’s going to last an hour. Starting at 5:00 or 5:30 would be much better. Let the students and their parents know that the actual presentation will start either a half-hour or hour after the reception. That way, those who don’t necessarily want to do the reception can plan to arrive a little later, or those who had to rush to get there won’t feel as rushed, knowing they have a little time before the actual ceremony starts. Another option is to start with the ceremony and have the reception afterwards. That way those who have long drives or don’t feel well or just want to get on home can leave earlier.

Second, while I learned some interesting things through the speakers, there were too many. Fifty minutes is a lot of speaking. I would suggest no more than twenty to thirty minutes of speaking prior to the presentations. Have a speaker who provides a little history of the event and a speaker who provides the motivational speech to the students. That’s really all that’s needed. Last night, there were two speakers for the motivational speech, and while they had different takes, different experiences to relate, and different wording, the speeches were basically the same – dream big, work hard, and you can achieve your goals. Yes, these students are the best and brightest in the 13th, 14th, and 15th regions, but that doesn’t mean they enjoy sitting through redundant speeches.

Third, recognizing each and every winning student is important. Taking their photographs with their sponsors is important. However, taking a picture of a sponsor and no student is time-consuming. I realize those photos are probably necessary for publicity purposes. There’s a better way to handle that, though. When calling student names, if the student is absent, call his/her name and the sponsor’s name, pause appropriately, then move on to the next student on the list. At the end of the ceremony, take those individual photos of the sponsors. Having done this last night would have taken at least fifteen minutes off the presentation.

Once again, I do applaud WYMT for the changes they’ve made over the eight years I’ve been associated with their scholarship and for working toward continued improvement to make it better each year. I am grateful for their hard work and for the sponsors they find who make these scholarships available. This year is their silver anniversary. Their first year, 1988, they awarded only nine scholarships, three in each region. Last night, they awarded 142. That’s significant progress. So, thank you WYMT for all you do for the students in the 13th, 14th, and 15th regions, but please consider some slight revisions to continue to improve your scholarships presentation ceremony.