Final Scholarships Provide Grace Note to Education Legacy
A Short Story of Sharon Huesman's Enduring, Fifty Year Commitment to Hilliard's Youth
Two graduates of Hilliard Davidson High School are the final recipients of the Sharon Huesman Memorial Scholarship while a Hilliard Darby High School enjoyed the ultimate act of sportsmanship that the scholarship celebrates.
Davidson graduates Kristen Cashell and Alex Kafka are also among the more than 1,000 Hilliard students who graduated in commencements for Hilliard Bradley, Darby and Davidson high schools May 24-26 at the Schottenstein Center on the campus of the Ohio State University.
Cashell and Kafka were recognized at a ceremony April 25 and their names were added to a plaque bearing 59 names in all of the Davidson students who have received the Sharon Huesman Memorial Scholarship since it was established in 1991.
The family of Huesman established the scholarship after her death in 1991 at the age of 58 from cancer.
Huesman was a teacher and a coach at Hilliard High School from 1969 to 1990 when it was at 5600 Scioto Darby Road. The high school on Scioto-Darby Road was first repurposed as Memorial Middle School but today is Station Sixth Grade School.
Huesman coached girls’ basketball, boys and girls’ volleyball, and softball at Hilliard High Schools as well as health and general physical education in the classroom.
Huesman coached various teams to 12 Ohio Capital Conference (OCC) championships.
“Sharon was about teaching student athletes life lessons rather than only focusing on wins and losses,” and that was why her family established the scholarship, said Beth Basil, and assistant coach under Huesman.
Basil coached volleyball, basketball and tennis at Hilliard Davidson High. Basil retired in 2006.
Cashell and Kafka are to be the final recipients of the memorial scholarship as Huesman’s family and organizers decided a number of years ago to exhaust the remaining scholarship funds and end the program, Basil said.
After the family’s initial contribution of $15,000, a number of volleyball tournaments and golf outings sustained the scholarship, Basil said.
The number of recipients varied each year from as few as one to as many as five, and the amounts also varied between $500 and $2,000, Basil said.
59 student athletes whose names are engraved on a plaque inside the gymnasium at Hilliard Davidson High School received the named scholarships.
On occasion, nominal amounts were also awarded to students- 21 over the course of the program- who were considered for the scholarship but did not receive it.
In all, the scholarship disbursed $91,000 to 80 students during the 33-year lifetime of the program.
“Coaches nominated the students and it was based on the character of the student athlete. The student’s loyalty, honesty, and good sportsmanship,” Basil said.
Cashell played basketball and Kafka competed in cross-country and track while students at Davidson High School.
Cashell will be attending Capital University in the fall while Kafka is to attend the University of Cincinnati.
In keeping with that spirit of sportsmanship and the Huesman legacy, Another Hilliard graduate and student athlete at Darby High School gracefully concluded her high school career with the help of teammates, coaches, and opponents.
Karissa “Sassa” Allbright, a 2023 graduate of Hilliard Darby High School, missed most of her senior year on the lacrosse pitch after sustaining an injury just two games into the season.
But in the waning seconds of Darby’s final game, a game Dublin Jerome High School had well in hand against the Panthers, Allbright was afforded a chance to score a final goal in her high school lacrosse career.
With six seconds on the clock, Panthers Head Coach Kaleb Secor put Allbright into a first-round playoff game against Dublin Jerome, whose head coach Cameron Finnegan called a timeout and allowed the Panthers to set up a play in which Panthers teammates Ashley Powers and Abberly Dela Rosa made a pass to Allbright who scored a goal.
Allbright is to attend the University of Findlay in the fall where she will continue her academic and resume her athletic career.
Congrats and a great story about the end of that memorial scholarship