{"id":7010,"date":"2020-04-09T12:00:12","date_gmt":"2020-04-09T16:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/?p=7010"},"modified":"2020-04-09T12:00:17","modified_gmt":"2020-04-09T16:00:17","slug":"scholarship-to-honor-ponte-vedra-high-school-student","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/first-coast\/scholarship-to-honor-ponte-vedra-high-school-student\/","title":{"rendered":"Scholarship to honor Ponte Vedra High School student"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>By Tiffany Merlo Phelps\u00a0<br>mail@floridanewsline.com\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One story stands out in Anna Pirgousis\u2019 mind that best illustrates the heart of her 16-year-old son Zander Laurin, the Ponte Vedra High School sophomore who died after being hit on AIA while jogging last year. Pirgousis asked Laurin when he was eight years old to name three gifts that he wanted for Christmas.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHe was struggling to come up with that third gift,\u201d said Pirgousis. \u201cAnd then he came to us and said that he wanted to give a bike anonymously to a kid who had been bullying him because he knew that the family could not afford it. So, that\u2019s what we did. We put a big bow on it and left it in their yard the night before Christmas.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A few days later, the same child rode the bike up to Laurin and Pirgousis at a park.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHe started making fun of Zander\u2019s bike, and all Zander said was \u2018Hey, that\u2019s a really cool bike,\u2019\u201d said Pirgousis. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t who he was to say anything negative back to the boy. He believed in second chances and being kind in the face of adversity.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is in that spirit of strength and giving that the Ponte Vedra Sharks Booster Club decided to create the Zander Laurin Pirgousis Memorial Scholarship to be awarded annually to one male and one female senior who has been accepted into an accredited college or university. The deadline date for submissions has been extended to April 25. The first recipients will be announced at the Ponte Vedra High School Senior Awards Night, scheduled for April 30,<sup> <\/sup>said Amy Pattison, Ponte Vedra Sharks Booster Club president. Pattison said she presented the memorial scholarship to the board after learning about Laurin\u2019s remarkable life and accomplishments, and the board approved it unanimously.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cStory after story, I just grew more in awe of him. He touched more lives than he could have ever known. What I learned about who Zander was really was nothing short of impressive,\u201d said Pattison. \u201cHe cared about everyone, befriended people unconditionally and enjoyed life. He loved to read and write and think, and he didn\u2019t take life for granted. He loved his mom more than anything, and he had a love for our country that he was very proud of. He had a servant\u2019s heart which probably touched me the most.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pirgousis and her husband, Philip, then decided to match the scholarship offer which created two $2,500 scholarships. Pirgousis, former Booster Club vice president, wrote the application questions and had always wanted to help students struggling with financial needs. She credits Pattison with championing the effort.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Scholarship requirements include having a 3.0 GPA unweighted, athletic participation and performing arts participation, community service, an essay and a short answer questionnaire along with an interview. Review committee members include Pirgousis, Pattison and Ponte Vedra High School wrestling coach Josean Gonzalez. Contact Pattison at gatoramy@att.net for more information about the scholarship.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pirgousis said the scholarship requirements reflect all that Laurin embodied as a Petty Officer in the U.S. Naval Sea Cadets Corps, Cadet Dive Team member, a varsity wrestler and a student with more than 200 hours of volunteer service that he didn\u2019t submit. He also participated in the Drama Club. Laurin was training at the time of his death for a tough field operation test in Iowa and was set to complete his Rescue Diver certification as well. The day Laurin was buried would have been the day he took over as battalion leader in the Sea Cadets, said Pirgousis. Laurin planned to attend the Citadel and to become a canine handler in the Marines.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ponte Vedra High School junior Jack Hebert, a close friend of Zander\u2019s, was so impacted by Laurin that he organized a Reindeer Run in December, raising and donating $1,000 to the scholarship fund in support of student athletes.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe reason that I wanted to do the run was to honor Zander and to keep the cherished memories of him alive. Zander was a very close friend of mine and losing him so tragically has been extremely difficult for so many people,\u201d said Hebert.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Through Laurin\u2019s belief in organ donation, a wish that was honored, and the memorial scholarship, Pirgousis feels that her son and his dreams have taken on a new life and energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe best way to honor him is by living the way that I taught him to live and to touch the lives of other kids through the scholarships. I can choose to harness this energy and create good from it,\u201d Pirgousis said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Photo courtesy Anna Pirgousis<br>Zander Laurin and Anna Pirgousis hiking.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Tiffany Merlo Phelps\u00a0mail@floridanewsline.com\u00a0 One story stands out in Anna Pirgousis\u2019 mind that best illustrates the heart of her 16-year-old son Zander Laurin, the Ponte Vedra High School sophomore who died after being hit on AIA while jogging last year. Pirgousis asked Laurin when he was eight years old to name three gifts that he [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6903,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7010","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-first-coast"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Scholarship to honor Ponte Vedra High School student - Florida NewsLine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"NewsLineBy Tiffany Merlo Phelps\u00a0mail@floridanewsline.com\u00a0 One story stands out in Anna Pirgousis\u2019 mind that best illustrates the heart of her 16-year-old son\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/first-coast\/scholarship-to-honor-ponte-vedra-high-school-student\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Scholarship to honor Ponte Vedra High School student - Florida NewsLine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"NewsLineBy Tiffany Merlo Phelps\u00a0mail@floridanewsline.com\u00a0 One story stands out in Anna Pirgousis\u2019 mind that best illustrates the heart of her 16-year-old son\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/first-coast\/scholarship-to-honor-ponte-vedra-high-school-student\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Florida NewsLine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheFloridaNewsLine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-09T16:00:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-04-09T16:00:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/PVN-Zander-Laurin-Pirgousis-Scholarship-2004Alores-e1586447995916.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"422\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"277\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"editor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@floridanewsline\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@floridanewsline\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/first-coast\/scholarship-to-honor-ponte-vedra-high-school-student\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/first-coast\/scholarship-to-honor-ponte-vedra-high-school-student\/\",\"name\":\"Scholarship to honor Ponte Vedra High School student - Florida NewsLine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/first-coast\/scholarship-to-honor-ponte-vedra-high-school-student\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/first-coast\/scholarship-to-honor-ponte-vedra-high-school-student\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/PVN-Zander-Laurin-Pirgousis-Scholarship-2004Alores-e1586447995916.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-09T16:00:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-04-09T16:00:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#\/schema\/person\/f112e5505697e0e24f438c3562ad0fcc\"},\"description\":\"NewsLineBy Tiffany Merlo Phelps\u00a0mail@floridanewsline.com\u00a0 One story stands out in Anna Pirgousis\u2019 mind that best illustrates the heart of her 16-year-old son\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/first-coast\/scholarship-to-honor-ponte-vedra-high-school-student\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/first-coast\/scholarship-to-honor-ponte-vedra-high-school-student\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/first-coast\/scholarship-to-honor-ponte-vedra-high-school-student\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/PVN-Zander-Laurin-Pirgousis-Scholarship-2004Alores-e1586447995916.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/PVN-Zander-Laurin-Pirgousis-Scholarship-2004Alores-e1586447995916.jpg\",\"width\":422,\"height\":277},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/first-coast\/scholarship-to-honor-ponte-vedra-high-school-student\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Scholarship to honor Ponte Vedra High School student\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/\",\"name\":\"Florida NewsLine\",\"description\":\"The Newspapers Everybody Gets\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#\/schema\/person\/f112e5505697e0e24f438c3562ad0fcc\",\"name\":\"editor\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/author\/editor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Scholarship to honor Ponte Vedra High School student - Florida NewsLine","description":"NewsLineBy Tiffany Merlo Phelps\u00a0mail@floridanewsline.com\u00a0 One story stands out in Anna Pirgousis\u2019 mind that best illustrates the heart of her 16-year-old son","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/first-coast\/scholarship-to-honor-ponte-vedra-high-school-student\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Scholarship to honor Ponte Vedra High School student - Florida NewsLine","og_description":"NewsLineBy Tiffany Merlo Phelps\u00a0mail@floridanewsline.com\u00a0 One story stands out in Anna Pirgousis\u2019 mind that best illustrates the heart of her 16-year-old son","og_url":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/first-coast\/scholarship-to-honor-ponte-vedra-high-school-student\/","og_site_name":"Florida NewsLine","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheFloridaNewsLine\/","article_published_time":"2020-04-09T16:00:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-04-09T16:00:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":422,"height":277,"url":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/PVN-Zander-Laurin-Pirgousis-Scholarship-2004Alores-e1586447995916.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"editor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@floridanewsline","twitter_site":"@floridanewsline","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"editor","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/first-coast\/scholarship-to-honor-ponte-vedra-high-school-student\/","url":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/first-coast\/scholarship-to-honor-ponte-vedra-high-school-student\/","name":"Scholarship to honor Ponte Vedra High School student - Florida NewsLine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/first-coast\/scholarship-to-honor-ponte-vedra-high-school-student\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/first-coast\/scholarship-to-honor-ponte-vedra-high-school-student\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/PVN-Zander-Laurin-Pirgousis-Scholarship-2004Alores-e1586447995916.jpg","datePublished":"2020-04-09T16:00:12+00:00","dateModified":"2020-04-09T16:00:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#\/schema\/person\/f112e5505697e0e24f438c3562ad0fcc"},"description":"NewsLineBy Tiffany Merlo Phelps\u00a0mail@floridanewsline.com\u00a0 One story stands out in Anna Pirgousis\u2019 mind that best illustrates the heart of her 16-year-old son","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/first-coast\/scholarship-to-honor-ponte-vedra-high-school-student\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/first-coast\/scholarship-to-honor-ponte-vedra-high-school-student\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/first-coast\/scholarship-to-honor-ponte-vedra-high-school-student\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/PVN-Zander-Laurin-Pirgousis-Scholarship-2004Alores-e1586447995916.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/PVN-Zander-Laurin-Pirgousis-Scholarship-2004Alores-e1586447995916.jpg","width":422,"height":277},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/first-coast\/scholarship-to-honor-ponte-vedra-high-school-student\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Scholarship to honor Ponte Vedra High School student"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#website","url":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/","name":"Florida NewsLine","description":"The Newspapers Everybody Gets","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#\/schema\/person\/f112e5505697e0e24f438c3562ad0fcc","name":"editor","url":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/author\/editor\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7010"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7011,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7010\/revisions\/7011"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}