One thought ran through Carl Bleich’s mind as he walked toward Estero High School principal George Clover’s office — “What did I do?”

Bleich’s concern turned to puzzlement when he saw his parents, grandfather and three Estero coaches waiting for him.

“I knew something was going on but I had no idea what it was,” he said.

The puzzlement became shock when Bleich learned that he was the recipient of a $12,000 college scholarship from The Hillmyer-Tremont Student Athlete Foundation.

“I was completely surprised,” he said. “It’s such a huge honor.”

Bleich and fellow scholarship winner Karli Nalls of Cape Coral will be the guests of honor tonight at the ninth annual Hillmyer-Tremont award presentation and banquet at the Legends Golf and Country Club.

Since 1998, the foundation has distributed more than $500,000 in scholarships to Lee County high school seniors. The awards are based on academic and athletic achievement, as well as financial need.

This year, 25 student-athletes were nominated for the scholarships, all of whom possessed exemplary credentials, said B.J. Fallowfield, a special advisor to the foundation’s board.

“The committee members really do agonize over (the winners),” she said. “We’re dealing with true overachievers. What it boils down to is who really needs the help.”

Bleich, who played varsity golf, basketball and tennis at Estero, was nearly sidelined as a freshman when he was diagnosed with Wolf-Parkinson-White Syndrome, a disease involving the electrical fibers of the heart.

That, along with a food allergy, left Bleich gasping for air, his heart racing, after exertion. Surgery and the elimination of wheat from his diet allowed Bleich to resume his athletic pursuits.

The sports editor for Estero’s school paper — Call of the Wild — Bleich, who has a 4.25 grade-point average, plans to attend Florida Gulf Coast University and pursue a career in journalism.

Nalls, a four-year varsity volleyball player at Cape Coral, has a 4.37 GPA and also will attend FGCU, where she plans to major in psychology. Her career goal is to become a child psychologist.

“I’ve been baby-sitting since I was 11 years old and I knew I had a passion for children,” she said. “I knew whatever career I’d be involved in would involve kids.”

Nalls said her goals are much more attainable thanks to the financial cushion the scholarship will provide.

“This definitely eases the burden,” she said. “It also puts a lot of responsibility on me. There were so many other candidates for this scholarship. I want to show everybody I really did earn this.”

The foundation is named after Elmer Tremont, a Florida High School Coaches Hall of Fame member who coached basketball at Fort Myers and Cypress Lake high schools, and Monk Hillmyer, the Southwest Florida land division chairman of U.S. Homes for almost 40 years.

This entry was posted by Taman Siswa on Monday, April 24, 2006 at 8:32 pm and is filed under College Grant, Education News. Tags: B.J. Fallowfield, basketball, Cape Coral, Carl Bleich, College, Cypress Lake, Elmer Tremont, Estero High School, Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida High School Coaches Hall of Fame, food allergy, Fort Myers, George Clover, golf, Grant, Hillmyer, Hillmyer-Tremont Student Athlete Foundation, Lee County, Legends Golf and Country Club, Scholarship, Student, tennis, Volleyball, Wolf-Parkinson-White Syndrome, . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.