2012 Laura Smither Scholarship Awarded to ELLEN ZHOU

The Laura Recovery Center - for missing children - proudly announces that Clear Brook High School graduate Ellen Zhou is the 2012 recipient of the Laura Smither Scholarship.  This annual $3,000 scholarship is the 15th scholarship to be awarded in the memory of Laura Kate Smither, who was abducted and murdered in April 1997.  Laura's parents, Bob and Gay Smither are so proud of all past scholarship recipients and are thrilled to add Ellen to this illustrious group of young people.  Bob and Gay have no doubt that Ellen will represent the scholarship and the memory of Laura well.

Ellen has been accepted to Princeton University where she will begin her undergraduate studies this coming fall. Although she has many interests, she will follow a science based degree, and is considering physics and engineering for her career path. She chose Princeton University because of its strong undergraduate focus and hopes to settle on a career path after a couple of years of study.

Ellen is an outstanding young lady who demonstrated her compassion and community spirit in organizing volunteers to work with Core Alliance, following the  devastation suffered in Haiti in 2010. She rallied volunteers to dedicate time to help assemble housing components for the Haitian relief effort. Their work led to 20 mobile houses going to Haiti to provide shelter. Ellen defines service “as living every day conscious of the unbreakable bond between all human beings, walking that fine line between selfishness and altruism, logic and love”. She is truly a remarkable young woman.

The Laura Recovery Center and the Laura Smither Scholarship Committee wish Ellen every success in her college years and beyond. God Speed Ellen!

Former Recipients (and their universities) of the Laura Smither Scholarship are:

1998  Kathryn Klima (Duke University, NC)
1999  Laura Byrne (Wheaton College, IL)
2000  Jared Bourgeois (Brigham Young University, UT)
2001  Tiffany Eppelheimer (Georgetown University, DC)
2002  Rachel Kyle (Rice University, TX)
2003  Olivia Bartlett (Rice University, TX)
2004  Michael Giordano (University of Houston, TX)
2005  Jennifer Robicheaux (Trinity University, TX)
2006  Trudy Taylor (Pepperdine University, CA
2007  Veronica Arnold (Texas A&M University at Galveston, TX)
2008  Erin Ellis (University of Notre Dame)
2009 Lena Silva (Rice University)
2010 Elizabeth Conger (North Western University)
2011 Cody Westphal (Texas Christian University)

The Laura Smither Scholarship is a merit based scholarship open to all the children of Friendswood.  Application forms can be found on line at www.LRCF.org and at the Laura Recovery Center office. Tax exempt donations to the Laura Smither Scholarship Endowment Fund will be gratefully received at Wells Fargo Bank in Friendswood or by check mailed to the Laura Recovery Center at 906 Anna Lane, Friendswood, Texas 77546 designating the Laura Smither Scholarship.

"Remember Laura"