My Name is Stacy Borges. I am the mother of Cole. My husband Glen, myself and our Boys, Jon-Alan & Alex, would like to thank you for allowing us the opportunity to explain to you about the Scholarship Fund we have started in memory of Cole.
Our son Cole passed away in January of this year. Cole was 15 years old, in 10th grade, and was in almost all honors classes at Marianna High School. Cole has been a continuous cross country runner since 6th grade. When he started High school he found a love for soccer, and was a player on the JV team for his 9th & 10th grade years.
Cole was an extraordinary kid. I'm not saying this because I am his mother, but Cole touched many lives in his own special way. Cole was a goal setter, he had a lot of friends and had a handful of very close friends that he considered family. Cole was polite, loving and extremely caring (again not just a mom talking here). Cole went out of his way to make others feel special, wanted, and always went out of his way to help others. As a mom, even I didn't realize the amount of lives he touched, until his passing.
Cole was a member of St Annes catholic church, and the youth group. Cole was an alter server for over 7 years, and made his confirmation last April. Cole had always had the dream to go into the army or air force, but recently he decided that going to college and getting a degree was the most impartment thing. Cole was undecided what he wanted to do, but most 15 year old boys do not know that yet.
Cole volunteered his time so often. I was the Marianna Middle School & K-8 VIP president for many years, and spearheaded 2 project graduations. Cole was always there to help me with everything I did. He never complained because he knew what the purpose of volunteering meant. He understood that many kids did not have involved parents, and he was very glad to help.
See… Cole was a giver. He was kind and patient and knew in his heart that he always had to help. Whether it was his friends, others at school, helping at the church, or just helping someone he did not know.
Cole knew many things, things beyond his years that he should not have known. But one thing Cole knew, was this world was expensive. He knew the value of a dollar and knew what it cost to attend any college.
So after Coles passing, our family knew we had to keep Coles memory alive, and what better way than to do it Cole's way.. The way of helping others. This is why, we as a family, chose to start a Memorial Scholarship fund in his memory. We want to help offset the expenses for college, that we know so many kids today many not be able to afford.
With Coles love for running, his obsession with the stars in the sky and his dream to attend college, we have started an annual 5k run to help build a platform for our scholarship fund. Our 5k will be called the Cole Borges Moon & Stars 5k run/walk. It will be at night so, when we look up to the stars, we will know Cole will be watching over everyone.
Each year we hope to build our fund, but know each year will be different. This year, we are setting a goal to give out 6, $1,000 scholarships. We want to positively impact as many students as we can, as we believe this is what our Cole would want.
With this scholarship fund, we are encouraging anyone from Jackson, Washington and Calhoun counties to apply. We also want everyone to know that this scholarship can be used in a traditional secondary institution or ANY trade school.
We encourage students to apply especially for a trade school. We know that many scholarships omit trade schools, but we need the tradesmen. We could not survive in our lives without them. My husband and myself did not attend a traditional institution, and I myself work in a trade.
Our family is asking anyone that would be interested in being a part of our scholarship fund, by making a donation directly to our fund, or sponsoring our 5k run in June. All money raised will go towards additional scholarship to the students.
We also are asking you to help spread the word by telling people about the run, placing a flyer at any business that will allow the flyer, or if you should know anyone who would like to sponsor the run, the can contact us directly.
Registration is open and we encourage EVERYONE to participate. If you are not a runner you may register for a donation only, and we hope you will attend the run to watch and encourage others.
Thank you all for your time and your support. We know Cole is watching us all, and encouraging us to all be our best.
Stacy, Glen, Jon-Alan & Alex
