William J. (Bill) Ward

Memorial Scholarship

managed by the

Tumwater Education Foundation

The purpose of the Bill Ward Memorial Scholarship is to honor a student athlete or assistant who did their best to help the team achieve the team’s goals.

Bill graduated from Tenino High School, Western Washington University and took post graduate classes from the University of Washington to further prepare himself for teaching and coaching.

Bill was a teacher and the first basketball coach at Mercer Island schools from 1953 to 1956. He then taught and coached three sports at Yelm High School for the next five years, where his 1958 boys’ basketball team won the State “B” Championship.

Tumwater School District hired him as one of the first teachers and the first boys’ basketball coach for their new high school. Bill also coached the boys and girls golf teams and was an assistant coach for football and track. In 1986, he retired from coaching basketball after 25 years of “T-Bird” basketball. He continued teaching and coaching golf until his full retirement in 1991.

He encouraged his students and players to set goals and follow their plans to achieve them. Bill used the team experience to teach students to develop positive lifelong skills, to demonstrate leadership by example, and he stressed putting maximum effort in all that you do.

Bill emphasized the team work approach over individualism in sports and acknowledged the supportive role that all team members have in the game.

CRITERIA

  • Applicants must be a graduating senior from Tumwater High School.
  • Applicants must plan to attend a 2 or 4 year college with intent to obtain a degree.
  • Applicants must have a GPA of 3.0 or higher in academic core courses (English, Math, Science, Social Science, fine or performing arts, foreign language).
  • Applicants must have been a member of any Tumwater High School athletic team (player, manager, or a similar team supportive role).
  • Applicants must display strong work ethics.
  • Applicants must demonstrate good leadership skills.
  • Applicants must have a strong sense of citizenship and demonstrate they are an asset to the community.
  • Applicants must demonstrate a non-discriminate character.
  • Applicants must display strong teamwork values.

APPLICATION PROCESS

  1. Applicants must complete a Tumwater Education Foundation Scholarship application, along with the following supplemental information.
  2. Describe how you
  • are a goal oriented person and how this helped you in the classroom and in athletic participation
  • have shown your leadership skills.
  • have encouraged others to achieve their goals
  • have demonstrated strong teamwork values
  1. Explain what the “team experience” means to you.
  2. Describe how a positive team attitude affects the outcome win or lose.
  3. Please include a picture with your application.