CHRISTINE ERIN STAMILE YOUTH AWARD
(Established 1996)

The Christine Erin Stamile Youth Award was initiated by Patrick and Grace Stamile to honor the memory of their daughter Christine. She was a Life Member of the AHS who once expressed the thought that a Life Membership gives, to its holder, daylilies for that person's "whole life." In keeping with this thought, the award presently funds one Life Membership in the AHS each year to a qualified AHS Youth Member.

The rules of eligibility and application are as follows:The applicant must be a current Youth Member and must have held AHS membership for at least two consecutive calendar years prior to receiving the award. The applicant must grow and maintain a personal collection of daylilies; no minimum number of cultivars is required.

The applicant must submit the following material:

1. An essay of any length, in the Youth Member's own words, explaining how the collection began.

2. A statement, in the Youth Member's own words, telling of the personal enjoyment of growing daylilies.

3. Ten photographs from the Youth Member's own collection. These photographs must include:

• one example of an individual bloom.
• one example of a clump.
• one example of a garden view which includes a part of the Youth Member's collection.

The remaining photographs may be of the Youth Member's own choosing.Instructions for applying are published in the Winter issue of The Daylily Journal and the Fall/Winter issue of the Youth News newsletter. All material (essay, statement, and photographs) should be mailed to the current AHS Youth Committee Chairman, postmarked no later than March 31 of the year in which the award selection will be announced. If requested, all material will be returned upon completion of the judging.The AHS Youth Committee members will evaluate the entries and select the winning applicant by vote. The award will be presented at the AHS National Convention.

The Erin Stamile Youth Award Winners to Date:

• 2009 Jessica Bell, Georgia, Region 5
• 2008 Cameron Stern, New Hampshire, Region 4
• 2007 Emilee Ruth Moore, Tennessee, Region 10
• 2006 Elliott Turkiew, New York, Region 4
• 2005 McKenzie Williams, Indiana, Region 2
• 2004 Kalen Begnaud, Louisiana, Region 13
• 2004 Patrick Collins, Georgia, Region 5
• 2003 Nolanne Chang, New Mexico, Region 6
• 2002 Tiffany Swann, Warner Robins, Georgia, Region 5
• 2001 Chris Arsenault, Florida, Region 12
• 2000 Beth Dungan, Texas, Region 6
• 1999 Molly Robertson, Tennessee, Region 10
• 1998 Ben Ward, Georgia, Region 5
• 1997 Brieana Rowles, Pennsylvania, Region 3
  
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The year 2009, the AHS is offering two $1000 Scholarships.

1. Applicants will be AHS youth members in good standing and with two consecutive years in the AHS.

2. Applicants will be graduating seniors in High School with a 2.9 GPA  entering  colleges, universities or technical schools.

3. Their course of studies must be in Horticulture, Botany, Plant Physiology and other plant sciences.

4.  Each applicant will fill out application available from the Youth Committee Chairman, and mail back to the chairman by or on March 31 of the year the scholarships are to be given.

5.  The applicants are required to write a letter giving the reasons they are applying for the scholarship.

6. The AHS Youth Committee would review the applications and vote for the winning candidate(s).  The AHS Youth Committee will make the final decision.

7.   Before making a decision, the AHS Youth Committee would check on the validity of the Youth membership.

8.  The names of the winner(s) will be announced at the National Convention and published in The Daylily Journal and the Youth News.

9.  Money will be sent directly to the winner's college, university or technical school.

Contact the AHS Youth Chairman: Betty Roberts, 9055 Melbourne Drive, Colorado Springs, CO 80920-7713, Phone: (719) 282-9642. e-mail: florabetty@aol.com  if you need more information or have questions.

Click here to get the AHS Youth Scholarship Form in .pdf format

AHS Bertie Ferris Scholarship winners

• 2009 - Patrick Collins, Georgia, Region 5
• 2008 - no winner
• 2007 - Arielle Christine Lucius, Ohio, Region 2
• 2006 - Corey Lucius, Ohio, Region 2
• 2005 - no winner
• 2004 - Melvin Tomlinson, Pennsylvania, Region 3
• 2003 - Tiffany Swann, Georgia, Region 5

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This information is also available here in .rtf format.

AHS Guidelines for Clubs and Individuals to Interest Youth in Daylilies

1. Assign a mentor to your youth members. Mom or dad may be involved in daylilies, but asking another club person to be a mentor would reinforce the daylily connection.

2. Clubs could invite a youth group (4-H, Scout etc.) to participate in a club function. One club invited a Brownies Troop to help at the annual plant sale. It was a positive experience for both. The members loved the young children. In turn the children had a good time. They learned about daylilies and each received a cultivar. The leftover plants from the sale were given to the troop to plant at their meeting place. The girls also earned a plant badge for their effort.

3. A club could pay the AHS membership dues for a youth interested in daylilies. The cost is only $8.

4. Clubs could sponsor a youth to a Regional Meeting or to the AHS National Convention by covering the youth registration fee.

5. In order to encourage youth members to attend Regional Meetings and AHS Conventions, sponsoring clubs could offer reduced fees.

6. At Regional Meetings and AHS National Conventions, have all the youth members ride a bus together. Encourage youth members to serve as bus captains. At the banquet have a table(s) reserved just for them and their parents if space permits.

7. If a club can, subsidize or offer free of charge, trips, meals etc. to the youth members when they attend the club's functions.

8. Depending on the number of youths attending your meeting, special activities just for them can be initiated. The activity would depend on the age of the youths.

9. During plant sales and auctions, the youths make excellent spotters and runners.

10. Ask a youth to write for your newsletter. A youth member could be assigned a garden for the Regional Meeting report, or he could write about a local garden visit. See that a youth in your region is made Junior Editor of the regional newsletter.

10. Include articles and pictures about the youth members in your local club newsletter and the regional newsletter.

11. Have an auction only for the youths. Give them daylily dollars. Solicit good plants (plants of value) beforehand from your club members.

12. Encourage the youths to take Garden Judge Workshops and Exhibition Judge Clinics and cover the fees.

13. Encourage youth members to participate in an AHS show. Show them how to groom their daylilies.

14. Visit the youth members' gardens. They, too, are proud to grow daylilies and share their gardens.

15. Look around your community. If your club can afford it, establish a scholarship(s) for youths involved in horticulture.

16. Buy an AHS membership for a school offering a horticulture program.

17. Contact and work with your region Youth Liaison in devising projects for the youths at regional meetings.

18. Clubs and individuals can make contributions to the AHS Youth General Fund. This fund is used to give scholarships to AHS Youth members. Instructions for applying for the AHS Bertie Ferris Youth Scholarship are on the AHS Web Page under Youth Page, in the Winter issue of The Daylily Journal, and in the Fall/Winter issue of Youth News, the AHS publication for youth members.

19. If youth members visit your garden, give them a daylily to take home.

20. Contribute to the Christine Erin Stamile Youth Fund. It provides one AHS Life Membership to a youth. See guidelines on how to apply in the Judging Daylily Handbook, Section A: Chapter A1-Personal Awards (A1-3), the Winter issue of The Daylily Journal, and in the Fall/Winter issue of Youth News.

21. Make up special goody bags for youth members who attend regional meetings. Include a disposable camera, candies, a pen and pad, a key chain, visor, etc.

22. Share your daylily journals, your catalogues, your regional newsletter, and other pertinent material with a youth.

23. Help a youth "build" a daylily bed, hybridize, gather seeds, grow seedlings, etc.

24. Take the youth with you on visits to daylily gardens.

25. Be creative. Science projects, for example, are a great way to introduce youth to daylilies.

26. Remember to capture all those wonderful images of youth participation.

27. Contact the AHS Youth Chair and the Editor to disseminate information on the national level. Names of all AHS officers, staff, and special chairs can be found in all issues of The Daylily Journal.

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