I spent much of the past weekend thinking about my late stepfather, a New York City-raised World War II veteran. He was a blunt-speaking and sometimes surprisingly contrarian tough cookie with a soft interior reserved only for those he loved and cared for.

Of the many things he told me that still resonate throughout my life, one of of them struck a chord as I read the backstories of the 16 high school winners of this year’s Optimist Club of St. Paul’s Youth Appreciation college scholarship awards.

“I get but don’t care for that ‘greatest generation’ thing,” he told me one time. “There are greatest and there are idiots in every generation.”

True that. And this year’s Optimist Club winners, like many of their predecessors, fall in the former category, in terms of potential.

They are mostly unheralded and little-known budding gems living among us, many of them from low-income or working-class families, excelling in school and outside of it in spite of dealing with or overcoming a host of physical, mental, deeply personal, economic and other hardships.

One, for lack of a better description, is an emancipated teenager whose parents had to leave him behind years ago to care for sick family members in another country. Another is a transgender youth acing college courses and a leader in his school. Still another is a refugee and the eldest of seven siblings pretty much helping to run a non-English-speaking single-mom household. Quite a number of this year’s winners are first-generation sons and daughters of immigrant parents who are juggling college-level courses, holding down part-time jobs as well as cooking, cleaning, paying bills and translating for their parents.

“Over the years of my involvement, each group of students have all been driven and resilient,” said John Tillotson, a longtime club member and senior vice president at the Stifel investment company in Minneapolis. “What makes this group a little different is there is a real thread of compassion for others.”

The club has awarded more than $600,000 in scholarships since 1997.

“When I think of the things they have gone through in their young lives, to have so much focus on the concern for others is truly amazing,” Tillotson added.

Toniyah McCaster, Jolie Davis and Alex Yupa Chimborazo are three of this year’s winners.

Toniyah McCaster

Toniyah McCaster

McCaster, 17, a senior at Creative Arts Secondary School in downtown St. Paul, is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse at the hands of a non-family member.

“It would take until I was 13 years old to uncover what I had unknowingly suppressed,” she noted in a moving essay she shared with Erika Huss, her school’s counselor.

“The memories haunted me in my sleep, flooding my dreams with regret and guilt until I could not sleep anymore,” she added. “Yet the only thing that could bring me peace was completing my school work …

“If there was one good thing that came out of my adolescence, it is the fact that I fell in love with school,” she noted. “I don’t know where I would be if it hadn’t.”

McCaster, who maintains a 4.0 GPA, is a teaching assistant at her school’s support center. She is also a multi-faceted musician who plays the piano, trumpet and drums.

The University of Minnesota and Johns Hopkins University are among the universities she plans to apply to in the coming months. She is interested in pursuing a career as an emergency room trauma surgeon.

“I will need to apply for more scholarships,” she told me, “but I’m proud of myself.”

Huss agrees.

“She is the type of student all schools pride themselves on serving,” she said.

Jolie Davis

Jolie Davis

Davis, like McCaster, was similarly abused as a child. She was 6.

She told me she was initially doubted by family members when she told them, a scar that hurt as much if not more than her victimization throughout the years.

“I was young, too young to fully process it,” Davis, 17, a senior at Johnson High School, told me. “I knew it was bad, but I did not know the severity of it. Even then, it still affected me because at first they did not believe me, so it was a struggle; it made me feel I could not be open with my parents, so that carried on with other life experiences.”

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The flashbacks and bad memories bubbled up during the isolationist pandemic years, causing her to fall into what she said was a state of depression that gradually lifted after she returned to the brick-and-mortar school.

Davis is vice president of her school’s National Honor Society, president of the Pan African Student Union she helped found, runs track and field and also serves as a teacher assistant. On weekends, she works as a telephone facilitator with Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, making sure patient food orders are processed.

She ranks ninth in her senior class with a 4.20 GPA and aspires to become a pediatric neurosurgeon. She has applied to Macalester College and also has her sights on the University of Minnesota.

“She is always positive and tries to see the best in people,” wrote Davis’ school counselor, Candace Pagel. “She really is the definition of an optimist.”

Alex Yupa Chimborazo

Alex Yupa Chimborazo

Chimborazo aptly shares his surname with a mountain in Ecuador whose summit reportedly holds the distinction of being the farthest point on Earth’s surface from the Earth’s center.

“Alex is one of the most amazing students I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with in my 30 years in education,” wrote Teresa Hichens-Olsen, a school counselor at Great River Montessori School.

The eldest U.S.-born son of working-class immigrant parents from Ecuador, Chimborazo was born with congenital microtia in his right ear. He has no ear canal and cannot hear from that side. He underwent surgery last year to make his external ear look about as normal as possible. Other surgeries are planned.

“I was scared to death,” Chimborazo told me of the surgeries. There are no guarantees and the odds are great that his hearing on that side will not be restored. It is what it is.

In spite of his disability and serving as his family’s de facto translator, bill-payer and problem-solver, Chimborazo is one of his school’s standout shining stars. He founded the school’s chess club, a game he fell in love with at the age of 10, and he aspires to become a chess master. He works as a Best Buy tech intern and is proficient in graphic design and coding.

“Tengo mucho orgullo de el,” his mom told me: “I’m proud of him.”

He is graduating second in his senior class with a 4.24 GPA and a full lnternational Baccalaureate world diploma at one of the most academically rigorous high schools in the country.

The University of St. Thomas and the University of Minnesota are among the handful of colleges Chimborazo has applied to or plans to apply to in the coming weeks.

“He is an outstanding student but more importantly a young man of character who is loving and kind,” Hichens-Olson wrote.

Best wishes to all, and “kick a,” as the old man who raised me would say.

Other winners

Optimist Club scholarship winners for 2023. Standing from left: Vince Vang, Liam Schrom, Ree Di Ma, Kowsar Ahmed, Lena Lee, Jolie Davis, Keontae Whitehead, and Alex Yupa ChimborazoSeated from left: Alex Her, Jorge Vargas, Erick Santamarie Santos, Afif Siraj, and Ayla Costello. (Courtesy photo)

The Optimist Club of St. Paul Youth Appreciation Scholarship winners also include:

Liam Schrom and Afif Siraj, Creative Arts Secondary School
Ayla Costello, Great River School
Israel Toledo, Harding High School
Kowsar Ahmed and Ree Di Ma, Humboldt High School
Alex Her, Emira Saleh, Vince Vang and Keontae Whitehead, Johnson High School
Lena Lee and Jorge Vargas, Washington Technology Magnet School
Erick Santamaria Santos, LEAP High School

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