A Centuries-Old Scholarship
Ashley Simons, who will graduate from East Hampton High School tomorrow, is the 2017 recipient of the Capt. William Rysam Fund scholarship, awarded annually by the East Hampton Town Trustees. The $500 award was announced at a June 1 scholarship awards ceremony at the high school.
Applicants for the scholarship were required to submit an essay to the trustees. At the governing body’s June 12 meeting, Diane McNally told her colleagues that Ms. Simons’s entry “explained how growing up in this community, going clamming, and being around the waters benefited her life and her family’s.” The trustees presented Ms. Simons a letter and certificate. When she provides documentation attesting to her college education, the scholarship award will be released.
“I have always enjoyed fishing, and I am pretty good with a rake,” Ms. Simons, who will attend Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., wrote in her essay. “Digging in my secret spot at Sammy’s Beach, I’ve submitted clams each year to the Largest Clam Contest,” an event the trustees host in the fall to explain their role in town government and promote responsible stewardship of the town’s natural resources.
Ms. Simons, who plans to major in computer science and is interested in a double minor in Chinese and environmental science, noted in her essay that she is one of three students who were chosen for an internship in Montauk. They perform weekly monitoring of the flora and fauna of Big Reed Pond and issue regular reports on a blog. She also described herself as a champion of recycling, “and I love to monitor my home’s solar power and my mom’s hybrid.”
“Members of my family have depended on these waters for generations,” Ms. Simons wrote, “both for recreation, income, and all the fixings for a great clambake! I want to continue their interests and legacy and help preserve the area that future generations may enjoy, just like my family and I have for years.”
She also works at the East Hampton Library, and participates in the Southampton Town Police Department’s youth explorer program. “The program allows students like me to get hands-on training on what it is like to be a police officer,” she wrote in an email to The Star.
Hugh King, the East Hampton town crier, told the East Hampton Village Board on Friday that Capt. Rysam came to East Hampton “around 1790, with his five or six daughters,” so that they could attend Clinton Academy, which was co-educational. “When he died, he left in his will the sum of $500 to the East Hampton Town Trustees. . . . That fund is still in existence, and is still run by the trustees.” Interest earned on the fund balance, and the $1 entry fee for the Largest Clam Contest, support the annual scholarship.