AIDAN COOPER AWARDED DR. HENRY W. INDYK SCHOLARSHIP
Aidan Cooper has been awarded the one-year Dr. Henry W. Indyk Scholarship, which is administered by The Lawn Institute (TLI). He is the son of Jeremy and Kim Cooper. His Dad is manager of turf operations for Red Hen Turf Farm, Inc. in New Carlisle, Indiana. Red Hen Turf
Farm President, Gordon Millar, endorsed Adian’s scholarship application.
Beginning in his sophomore year, the majority of Aidan’s classes have been part of a dual credit program, earning both high school and college credit. He will graduate this spring with a diploma from Penn High School, Mishawaka, IN, and an associate degree through Ivy Tech Community College, which has multiple locations in Indiana. Aidan says, “All the credits may not apply, but I anticipate it will give me at least a year’s worth of college credit. It’s a great way to complete the basics and makes sense financially.” Tough Aidan had been accepted at Ball State University, further exploration of his options resulted in the decision to attend Indiana University Bloomington. He says, “I’ve been accepted into the honors college and received a better scholarship offer there, and they have a strong program in my major field of study, Computer and Information Systems.”
Aidan developed his interest in computers as a child and a computer programming class his freshman year turned that interest to a passion. In his sophomore year, he started working with the game system Unity to develop his own games online to offer to others for free. He also has used his programing skills to modify older computer games to work with today’s technology. In one of his essays for the scholarship application, Aidan wrote, “It brings me great joy whenever I finally squash a bug in the code for a video game I’m programming, or when I finally figure out what is wrong with a program on my friends’ computers, or when I see a modification that I made for a game get hundreds of downloads.”
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He also attributes his experience working at Red Hen Turf Farm for helping him determine Computer and Information Systems should be his career path. In his essay on how the turfgrass industry shaped his personal character, Aidan wrote, “My father used to have to do a lot of manual planning in order to properly plan deliveries of sod and communicate with everyone that needed to know those plans, but with the Turf Logistics software, he is now able to plan deliveries and communicate details about those deliveries with ease, freeing up massive amounts of time for him and his coworkers for other, more high-level work. Pursuing an education in computer and information systems will allow me to use my talents with computers and turn them into a profitable venture that can also help businesses improve their operations using technology.” Aidan added, “Te better businesses operate, the better the economy.”
Four years of foreign language study was a requirement of the dual credit program. Aidan selected Spanish and loved learning the language. He explains. “Te bonus is being able to communicate in Spanish also should make me more valuable in the job market.”
In his letter of recommendation, James A. Schmidt, teacher of Social Studies at Penn High School, wrote, “I have known Aidan since he was a sophomore in my History Topics course.” And, “Aidan’s list of accomplishments during his high school career is endless. He is one of the best students I have ever had the pleasure of teaching. Aidan can be outgoing and dedicated and at the same time quietly set the highest example for others.” And he wrote of Aidan’s compassion for others, “… Aidan always goes a step beyond to find ways to make a difference in others’ lives.” And “He is as diligent and responsible in the classroom as he has shown outside of it. To say he works well with others is an understatement.” In his evaluation of Aidan’s scholastic abilities, leadership abilities, and general character, Mr. Schmidt gave Aidan the highest ranking, exceptional, in all the categories listed: leadership, attitude, organization, reliability, attendance, and initiative.
TPI Turf News May/June 2021
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