The Richard J. Schlimgen Memorial Award
The Award
The main purpose of the Richard J. Schlimgen Memorial Award is to give students incentive to seek greater knowledge of leadership principles and skills, and to use that knowledge in the service of their school and community. It also holds as its purpose the recognition of students who have excelled in student leadership while exemplifying high ideals, and providing assistance for the continuation of their education. The recipient must have attended the Virginia Beach Leadership Workshop. Criteria revolve around leadership, service, scholarship, citizenship, and creativity.
The amount of the scholarship accompanying this award is currently: $2000
The Legacy
The Richard Joseph Schlimgen Memorial Scholarship is named for a young man who was one of the finest leaders to pass through Virginia Beach City Public Schools. He was a 1980 graduate of First Colonial High School where he was president of the SCA. Among many other activities, he participated in the One-Act Play Festival and captained the soccer team. He attended Virginia Boys' State and Presidential Classroom, was selected for the National Honor Society and the Virginia Pilot Scholastic Team, and was named "Outstanding Senior" while at First Colonial.
Richard Schlimgen was a student at the University of Virginia as a Rodman Scholar, attending on a four-year scholarship where he majored in computer science. At UVA, he co-chaired the university's activities committee, coached youth soccer, and played club soccer and racquetball. He belonged to Zeta Psi Fraternity, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and the Fraternity and Sorority Christian Fellowship.
Richard was a major contributor to the work of the Virginia Beach Leadership Workshop Staff for three years. He was a t-shirt designer, a playwright, a computer enthusiast, an accomplished sailor, an individual of great creativity, and a very warm and special person. In 1983, he died in a plane crash at the age of 20. Each year since, this award has been given in his memory to honor the accomplishments of another outstanding student leader in Virginia Beach.
Richard J. Schlimgen Memorial Award Recipients
| Year | Recipient | School |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Khadija Sossou | Ocean Lakes |
| 2024 | Kristen Espinola | Landstown |
| 2023 | Ainsley Stonebridge | Kellam |
| 2022 | Aaron Atlanta | First Colonial |
| 2021 | Brooke Harn | Kempsville |
| 2020 | Cheryll Caslin | Bayside |
| 2019 | Andrea Pember | First Colonial |
| 2018 | Abigail Ramsay | Bayside |
| 2017 | Charlie Prince | Cox |
| 2016 | Joshua Rempala | Kempsville |
| 2015 | Lukas Petrirak | First Colonial |
| 2014 | Evan Turner | Ocean Lakes |
| 2013 | Hailey Sabol | Salem |
| 2012 | Andrew Stone | Green Run |
| 2011 | Katherine Sadowski | First Colonial |
| 2010 | Ann Lawrence Baumar | Cox |
| 2009 | Sheridan Fuller | Tallwood |
| 2008 | Auriel Johnson | Ocean Lakes |
| 2007 | Ted Goldstein | Cox |
| 2006 | Grace McGee | Kellam |
| 2005 | Leslie Larner | Salem |
| 2004 | Missy Jenkins | Ocean Lakes |
| 2003 | Allison Murphy | Ocean Lakes |
| 2002 | Holly Buchanan | Cox |
| 2001 | Elizabeth Horlak | Ocean Lakes |
| 2000 | Amanda Logsdon | Cox |
| 1999 | Jeff Hux | Cox |
| 1998 | Jen Allen | Kempsville |
| 1997 | Anthonay Lin | Tallwood |
| 1996 | Amy Kobelski | First Colonial |
| 1995 | Meg Buchanan | Cox |
| 1994 | Miki Reinhold | Princess Anne |
| 1993 | Gerie Rhoads | Cox |
| 1992 | Zach Long | Princess Anne |
| 1991 | Tori Reinhold | Bayside |
| 1990 | Wayne Shackelford | First Colonial |
| 1989 | Ruth Damson | Green Run |
| 1988 | David Draper | Bayside |
| 1987 | Gaddy Hood | Cox |
| 1986 | Scott Keeling | Cox |
| 1985 | Clint Carroll | Kellam |
| 1984 | Matt Vester | First Colonial |
| 1983 | Jewell Lin | Bayside |
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