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The estate of the late local Cody Thompson has continued to give back to the community in the several years since Thompson’s passing in 2019 due to a flying incident.
The Altair raised pilot set his roots in Garwood where he raised three daughters along with his wife Shelley Boenisch who continues to support the community in his honor.
Since his passing, Boenisch and the family have given back to the community with several benefits, raffles and scholarships after their inaugural event in 2020. The Cody Thompson Memorial foundation has given $48,000 in scholarships before adding another $30,500 on April 20 as they granted several local students funds for their college or trade school opportunities following their high school graduation.
The foundation received over 100 applications from five counties and 17 different schools. The 10 students chosen featured several who were enrolled in either Weimar High School, Rice Consolidated High School and Columbus High School.
Sage Thomas and Alley Fitzgerald were the Columbus seniors who received the grant award. Thomas received a $2500 scholarship for her award while Fitzgerald received a $5000 scholarship. Both seniors plan on attending Texas A&M in College Station to become Nurse Anesthetists.
Hope Schneider was the lone senior from Rice High School to receive a scholarship, getting a $2500 scholarship from the foundation to assist with her plans to attend Texas A&M’s Mays Business Program.
Weimar High School had three students represented who received scholarship awards.
Dreylon McMillian received a $5000 scholarship to help him earn more experience in the workforce by earning his HVAC license at a technical school in Waco.
McMillian was joined by Christina Sierra and Brendan Brandt as his fellow classmates also received scholarships from the foundation.
Brandt took home a $2500 scholarship to help get his Diesel Equipment Technology degree, joining McMillian at the same school post-graduation.
Sierra received $1000 in scholarship funds to help her goal of attending Texas Tech and eventually going to veterinarian school.
