The Chris Damo Scholarship is awarded to a St. Michael School 8th grade student who will be attending one of the Columbus area Catholic High Schools after graduation from St. Michael School. The applicant must be a current 8th grade student at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic School, and must be the son or daughter of an active member of a Knights of Columbus council.
Knights of Columbus Council 11445 awards a total of $4,000.00 in scholarship money, to be paid in four annual installments directly to the Catholic High School that the winner is attending. After the first year, the scholarship winner must re-qualify by maintaining a minimum grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale and continue to demonstrate good character as a student, a citizen, and a Catholic.
The scholarship is awarded to the applicant who’s life most displays the characteristics of the scholarship’s namesake, Chris Damo: Community Service, Catholic Spirituality, Patriotism, and Knights’ Fraternity. The Chris Damo Scholarship honors a man who inspired others by how he lived his Catholic faith every day, and the winner is selected by the scholarship committee as someone who is already living their lives the same way.
This year, there were many exceptional applicants. All of the applicants were fantastic examples of the quality of students who represent the 8th grade graduating class from St. Michael the Archangel School. After careful deliberation and prayer, the Scholarship Committee is pleased to announce that Mary Claire Greve is the recipient of the 2020 Chris Damo Scholarship, by unanimous vote.
Chris Damo was committed to community service as displayed by his countless volunteer hours with the Special Olympics, Homeless Families Foundation, S.P.I.C.E, 40 Days for Life, Honor Flight, and Mid-Ohio Foodbank, just to name a few. He had a profound faith and proudly displayed his Catholic identity, but he also had a deep spirituality that was not on display, but was self-evident in the number of Eucharistic Adoration holy hours that he attended each week or when you would hear about him at daily Mass. Chris was born in the Philippines and his parents made huge sacrifices to bring the family to America. He displayed his patriotism everyday with his car license plate (THX VETS) and on national holidays, including arranging for flags to be placed on all veterans’ graves in Resurrection Cemetery on Memorial Day. He truly loved this country. He was also very active in the Knights of Columbus, holding many committee chair positions, actively leading or contributing to numerous social and service events, and participating in the 4th degree honor guard at a multitude of funerals and other occasions.