PROSPERITY — The family of Parker Killian Moore, along with Prosperity-Rikard Elementary, recently presented fifth grader Drake Sauls with the second annual Camp Sewee Scholarship (Clemson University’s Youth Learning Institute marine science summer camp).
The scholarship was presented on behalf of the family of Parker Killian Moore, a former Prosperity-Rikard student who was killed January 21, 2018. Parker lived in Prosperity for five years and attended Prosperity-Rikard during kindergarten and first grade.
Sauls said he was excited to receive the scholarship especially knowing it will help remember Parker.
“It was very nice of them to do this and it almost made me cry because of how they are recognizing Parker and so many other students, it will help remember Parker and help children and adults remember Parker for a long time,” he said.
With this scholarship, Sauls will get to spend a week learning about science. On a scale of one to 10 of how much fun he’ll have, he said a 10 or maybe a 9.5.
“It’s a camp about science, and I really like science and it’s at the beach and there are a lot of kids to have fun with,” Sauls said.
Sauls’ father, Chris Sauls, is also proud of his son for being awarded the scholarship.
“It’s amazing, we were honored that he was chosen, Drake’s excited about the opportunity, he loves science, the chance to spend a week learning about science is a dream of his and we’re just real proud,” he said.
On what would have been her son’s 25th birthday (March 12), Parker’s mother Leah Maas said it was a bittersweet day.
“I never imagined I would be doing this on his 25th birthday, but it means a lot to us to, I guess, pay it forward, live our lives in a way that Parker lived his life. Parker didn’t have a lot of money or anything like that, but he always gave to people any way he could, he always saw the positive before anything else,” she said.
Maas recalled just how giving Parker was, once giving his meal to a homeless man.
“When he worked at Moe’s he had a homeless gentleman come into Moe’s and Parker was allowed to have one free meal a night at Moe’s and if the homeless man was there he would let him have his meal, he was always doing things like that, he had a very big and giving heart,” she said. “We just want people that didn’t get the chance to know Parker to know about him and we want to do things for people that will make them smile, and when they think of Parker it will make them smile. I don’t want Parker to be remembered for how he left this world, how he was violently killed, I want people to remember how he lived and we want to help people live and experience things they wouldn’t otherwise have and Parker would love that.”
Parker Killian GIVES Moore was established by Parker’s family about a year ago, in the year since its inception, the 501c3 organization has awarded 10 scholarships to students. Their mission is to provide educational scholarships and other life-changing opportunities to inspire young people to reach for their dreams. All donations are tax deductible.
“Our plan is definitely to keep the scholarships going and we hope that it becomes as big as it was meant to be or just stays small, give 10, 12, 15 scholarships and make a difference in people’s lives each semester, just keep giving scholarships to students who represent who Parker was,” Maas said.
Parker Killian GIVES Moore has also awarded two Veterinary Tech scholarships at Piedmont Tech, Newberry Campus as well as six scholarships at colleges in Georgia.
For more information about Parker and the initiatives of Parker Killian GIVES Moore, visit parkerkillianmoore.com.
For additional information, contact Gail Bensten at gailie1@live.com or 803-622-2429.
