LG Grads, Friends Create First Sampuesana 7 Scholarship

People say good friends are hard to come by ... well what about seven of them? Bryce Moerbe, Carlos Guevara, Kyle Hartmann, Jaston Davis, Weston Wick, Chris Raborn and Laken Grimes or the Sampuesana 7, as they call themselves, can attest that true friendship is rare indeed.

All seven of them attended La Grange High School together. Moerbe and Jaston were in the class of 2011, Grimes, Wick and Hartmann were in the class of 2012, Raborn was in the class of 2013 and Guevara was in the class of 2014.

So why Sampuesana 7?

Well Guevara introduced them to a song called the Cumbia Sampuesana which they play every time they meet up. Along with the group name, which came to Grimes one day, they also have a dance to go along with the song. Hartmann said, “We play that song and dance to it at every wedding, bachelor party or significant event that pertains to the group.”

“Our group of friends has always been known to put a little too much effort towards the little things. A few summers ago, we even organized our own wiffleball league that included a Facebook page that posted statistics through the season,” said Moerbe, the secretary/historian of the group. Yes, the secretary/historian of the group. Moerbe said, “We really began to treat the group as a sort of civic organization.”

As for the other six, Carlos Guevara is the president, Jaston Davis is the vice-president, Kyle Hartmann is the treasurer, Christopher Raborn is the master of ceremonies, Weston Wick is human resources and Laken Grimes is the public relations coordinator. These elected positions only run for one term and then they vote in new officers amongst the group. Along with elected positions, they keep in touch with their own newsletter and have weekly email blasts.

Just this last year at their annual Christmas get-together or “Friendsmas,” as they call it, they were having their annual meeting and someone brought up the idea of starting a scholarship. They all really loved the idea. “We realized between the seven of us it would be an easy thing to do and an easy way for us to have an impact on our community,” said Raborn. “We are all college graduates so we are aware of how meaningful a scholarship can be and we wanted to help a student each year the same way the community helped us when we were graduating from La Grange High School.”

With a strong friendship like this group has, the only answer to what their scholarship should focus on was a no-brainer. “We focused on friendship because that’s how this all started,” said Hartmann. “We wanted our applicants to have the opportunity to reflect on some positive memories and friendships they have made. We are thankful that we became lifelong friends and it all started at La Grange High School.” Raborn added, “We know there are a ton of scholarships focused on academics and what students want to do with their lives, but we wanted ours to be different. We wanted our scholarship to provide an opportunity for all students, not just for students at the very top of the class or students involved in specific clubs or activities.”

The first Sampuesana 7 Scholarship was won by Abigail Weltner from La Grange High School this year. “We were so upset we didn’t get to present the scholarship at the ceremony this year, but we will be looking forward to it next year,” said Davis. And speaking of next year, they are al ready looking forward to and planning ahead for next year’s scholarship. “Our questions were very broad this round so we are already thinking about other questions to add next year and we just look forward to it growing. We only had 20 or so applicants so seeing it rise to maybe 50 next year and then growing in the future would be amazing,” said Davis. They are also planning a fundraiser for next year’s scholarship so keep a lookout for that and there might even be more “friendly” things in the works.