What's Happening in Cougar Country

Most high schoolers have summer jobs for spending money throughout the year.

A lesser amount saves some of that money to use after high school and help pay for college.

For Lake Catholic senior Theresa Lazanich, she’s turned her summer job from the past two years as a caddie at Canterbury Country Club into four years’ worth of full tuition and room and board.

Theresa was named an Evans Scholarship winner at the end of January, and just this past week found out that she will use that scholarship at Ohio State University.

The Evans Scholarship is a full tuition and housing college scholarship for high-achieving caddies. According to the scholarship website, to qualify caddies must meet the requirements of having a strong caddie record, excellent academics, demonstrated financial need, and outstanding character.

“I was super excited when I found out that I won the Evans Scholarship,” Theresa said. “And now that I know I’m going to my first-choice school (Ohio State), it’s even more exciting.

“I want to be a physician’s assistant, which will mean extra schooling. So that’s a huge financial commitment. And being the youngest of six kids, this is a huge help for me and my parents.”

Evans Scholars can be found at 24 universities nationwide. Their students live and work together in a community, earning a reputation for scholastic achievement and excellence in community service.

What’s different about Evans Scholars though is that they don’t have the final say on where they attend. Once she received the scholarship, Theresa had to submit a list of her top three school choices – that she had applied for and had been accepted to. Her top three were Ohio State, Marquette, and Miami University.

“I had the choice of Ohio schools or any private or possibly border state schools,” she said. “But I’m glad I got my No. 1 choice.”

Theresa has been around the game of golf since she was a kid, she said. As the youngest in her family, her parents would often take her to the course when they would play. That’s where she learned the game, first hit the ball, and became fond of the game that would become such a big part of her life.

“I started playing when I was really young, maybe eight or nine (years old),” she said. “I would play in leagues throughout the summers and have played all four years here at Lake Catholic.

“When I started playing here, I met a girl from Beaumont, who talked me into getting a job at Canterbury with her.”

So, for the past two summers, Theresa has been at the country club early in the morning and helped members and guests with their rounds of golf throughout. Eventually, it was there that the caddie master suggested she apply for the Evans Scholarship.

“There’s also a ton of members there who are Evans Scholars, so I had a lot of support when I applied,” she said.

All the while, she continued her successful high school career. She was a two-year captain for the Cougars while playing as the team’s No. 1 player. She was named First Team All-Crown Conference in both her junior and senior seasons.

It was after her senior season when she was named a finalist for the scholarship, and she began prepping for her interview at Moraine Country Club in the Dayton area.

“The four green coats (chairpersons) were there, along with 60 other Evans Scholars,” she said. “They all had read my essay and I had to just stand there for 20-25 minutes answering questions about it.”

And from there it was a waiting game – first to be named an Evans Scholar and then to find out she was heading to her first-choice school.

Not too bad for a summer job.