Huntington alum Amanda Hertig Cullinan were her prized horse.
Huntington alum Amanda Hertig Cullinan were her prized horse.

Amanda Cullinan Scholarship to be Awarded at Huntington

March 30, 2023

Huntington High School seniors who have participated in the Blue Devil athletic program are encouraged to apply for the new Amanda (Hertig) Cullinan Student-Athlete Resiliency Award by May 15. The $2,500 scholarship will be presented for the first time this year. It honors a Class of 1996 member who starred on the girls’ lacrosse team and who also served as the high school’s student government president.

The Huntington alum passed away last May after a four year battle with breast cancer. She was a married mother of three living in Summerfield, North Carolina who served as a head coach of the varsity girls’ lacrosse team at Northern Guilford High School.

All senior four-year college bound student athletes are eligible to apply for the award, but you do not have to be planning to play a college sport. Click here for the application.

Applicants are asked to submit a typed 300 word essay describing how they have shown resiliency on or off the field. Completed applications can be dropped off in the athletic office or sent via email to athletic director Jim Hoops to jhoops@hufsd.edu.

Known as Amanda Hertig during her time at Huntington High School, she played on the Blue Devils’ 1994 county and state championship girls’ soccer team and on the 1996 county champion and state finalist girls’ lacrosse team.

“It was Amanda’s wish to create the Amanda Cullinan Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization to fund an annual scholarship award for an exemplary college-bound student athlete at Huntington High School,” states the award application.

Born in Keokuk, Iowa on June 21, 1978, Amanda Hertig moved to Huntington as a first grader. After playing for the Blue Devil girls’ lacrosse team’s founding coach, Mary Paar she went on to study biology and play lacrosse at Brown University.

“Amanda wanted the award to be given to a student-athlete who has demonstrated great resiliency in the face of adversity, whether that be in the classroom, on the playing field or in life,” according to the application. “Someone who has faced obstacles big or small and not given up; a person who has struggled, but kept fighting. No one was more resilient than Amanda. This foundation and these scholarships will be a huge part of her legacy and will give all of those who loved her a way to honor her inspiring life.”

The Huntington alum served as the mistress of ceremonies at Huntington High School’s 1996 commencement exercises.

“To sum up Amanda’s zest for life, while in hospice care she and her family went on vacation to Turks and Caicos,” according to an online tribute. “On day five, she said, ‘I’m leaving it all on the field’ and went down a waterslide. She never missed an opportunity to show her kids how life should be lived.”

The Amanda Cullinan Student-Athlete Resiliency Award is expected to quickly take its place among the most cherished senior awards presented annually at Huntington High School.