Kari Peer Wins Khalil Award
Kari Peer is an impressive Huntington High School senior. The teenager is so impressive she won the Khalil Award, a $500 college scholarship given to a student who has made a unique contribution during their high school years.
Ms. Peer is headed to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in the fall. She is undecided on an academic major. "Kari Peer is one of those students that you just know is going to make it through life and accomplish something extraordinary," said Bernadette Walsh, Huntington High School's college counselor. "She has a gift of working with people, cutting through the nonsense of life and making good common sense decisions based upon intuition and guts."
Dr. David Khalil presented Ms. Peer with the scholarship during Huntington's annual senior academic awards night in the high school auditorium. "We received several outstanding applications [for the scholarship] and, truth be told, each student was impressive in their distinct way," Dr. Khalil said during the awards night. "The award could have easily gone to any one of them."
Despite the strong field, Ms. Peer rose to the top. "This year the award was given to a student who has spent the last several years giving to others," Dr. Khalil said about the teenager. "She participated in 18 different activities in the community that are devoted to others."
Ms. Peer played on the Blue Devil field hockey team and has kept very busy around the school and in the community. "Kari is a good student on the verge of being a great student," Mrs. Walsh said. "She has improved her study and research skills each year and has continued to challenge herself with a rigorous college preparatory course of study. She has the interest, the desire and the drive."
Dr. Khalil gave three examples of Ms. Peer's devotion to others. She is participating in the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life, she helped out with at the Special Olympics Spring Games North and she assisted young children suffering from cancer through the Have a Heart program. "I think that last program's name is very fitting; Have a Heart," Dr. Khalil said. "Kari Peer certainly has a heart, a big heart."
"Kari has made a name for herself and a home here at Huntington," Mrs. Walsh said. "She is a fantastic young woman who will be an asset to the University of Massachusetts. Her interests are varied, but she always puts that extra effort into everything she does. She is a winner!"