Hamo scholarship honors memory of Copley graduate
By Kathleen Folkerth
FAIRLAWN — Three years after he died, Mark Hamo is still affecting the lives of others.
The 1995 Copley High School graduate
was killed in a car accident in 2004 when a tractor-trailer
struck his car at the intersection of Smith and Riverview
roads. But thanks to the efforts of his father, Pete
Hamo, of Fairlawn, and family and friends, a scholarship
has been established that will help students graduating
from Mark Hamo’s alma mater.
This year, the Mark Christopher
Hamo Scholarship was awarded for the first time, with
Copley senior Ashleah Fuller the recipient of the $1,250
award.
Ashleah’s mother, Jennifer
Fuller, said her daughter receiving the scholarship
has even more impact because the two knew Mark Hamo.
Jennifer Fuller said she had worked with him.
“I was really honored,”
Ashleah, 18, said about receiving the scholarship. “I
loved Mark, and he was always there for my family the
few years that we knew him. He was a happy guy and always
one to care for others.”
She also was touched,
she said, because a plaque listing
the recipients of the scholarship will be installed
in the high school, and hers will be the first name
listed on it. The new graduate plans to attend Kent
State University in the fall and major in nursing.
Pete Hamo left the selection
of the scholarship applicant up to the Copley-Fairlawn
Schools Foundation, which is administering the award.
The scholarship was awarded during
Copley High School’s senior awards ceremony May
31. Pete Hamo was there to award the scholarship to
Ashleah.
“I couldn’t read
the remarks; I was just choked up,” he said.
Pete Hamo said he decided to establish
the scholarship soon after he was contacted about his
son’s car accident.
“The scholarship is my
way of giving back to our young students so they can
prepare themselves for the future,” Pete Hamo
said. “The key reason for the scholarship was
to help students coming from single-family households
to further their education and to ease some of the financial
burden placed on them and their household.”
Pete Hamo said he raised Mark
and his two older brothers and knows how difficult it
can be to be a single parent.
“It’s so hard for
a single parent to balance so many things,”
he said. “It’s tough. We did it, and I was
proud of Mark. We chose to work together.”
Pete Hamo also said he was very
happy with the education his sons received in the Copley-Fairlawn
City Schools.
“I have nothing but admiration
for the entire program,” he said.
After graduating from Copley,
Mark Hamo attended The University of Akron and graduated
with a degree in marketing and business in 2002. At
the time of his death, he was working for a title company
but had plans to work with his father in a real-estate-related
business.
Pete Hamo added that Mark lived
in the Merriman Valley
and liked living in the Akron area.
“He had an opportunity
to work elsewhere and he refused because he wanted to
stay here,” he said.
Pete Hamo said he is thankful
to the many people who donated to the fund for the scholarship,
which will be offered yearly. He said more than $15,000
was collected.
“The respect that our family
received from the community and from Mark’s friends
was wonderful,” Pete Hamo said. “I will
never forget what they did for our family to help ease
our pain.”
A new scholarship in memory of
Mark Hamo was awarded this year at Copley High School.
A Copley High School graduate, Hamo also graduated from
The University of Akron with a degree in marketing and
business in 2002.
Photo courtesy of Copley-Fairlawn
City Schools District
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