Sam Collington Memorial Scholarship

Background

Sam Collington, an avid reader and writer, was warm, charismatic, smart, and so funny.

Sam loved cooking for his family and he enjoyed fishing, camping, canoeing, and the outdoors in general.  Sam earned Scouting’s highest rank of Eagle Scout with Troop 44. 

As a student, he was intelligent – an AP Scholar with Honors, earning a laudable score of 5 on the AP government exam.

His extra-curricular high school activities included Freshmen Mentoring, Class Congress, National Honor Society, Debate Team, Marching Band, and Theater Tech Crew. 

Sam also worked in the summer with the district’s Extended School Year program, providing a fun and engaging learning environment with goals of retention and inclusion for special-needs students. 

Sam’s involvement and depth of leadership in the Recreational, Leisure, and Lifelong Fitness ESY Camp was immeasurable and he excelled in this role.  In addition to character traits like discipline and hard work, Sam displayed his amazing personality while doing work that can be challenging at times.  He went above and beyond to learn about different disabilities and did not treat his experience as a “job” but rather a part of the process to better himself through education and social learning.

A Class of 2018 graduate, Sam was voted by his classmates as “most likely to succeed.”  He was Class President his junior and senior years.

Sam had a dynamic personality and his teachers describe him as:  one-of-a-kind, a leader, memorable, passionate, committed, moral, but most of all … kind.

Sam was a political science major at Temple University, receiving a posthumous Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, with a minor in Philosophy.  Sam was most passionate when encouraging eligible students to engage in the civic responsibility of voting, particularly voter registration.  He took every opportunity to not only educate himself with platforms and backgrounds of all candidates, but to encourage dialogue.  The Tempest Podcast, created by Sam and his friend, Jack Meyer, is just one example of Sam’s fluid, political perspective.

While a student at Temple, Sam interned with Philadelphia City Commissioner Omar Sabir, writing letters to and engaging with constituents, working in research and analytics, and helped with project management.  To honor Sam’s legacy, Commissioner Sabir renamed the office’s democracy fellowship program as the Samuel S. Collington Democracy Fellowship. 

Commissioner Sabir believed that Sam had “a contribution and an amazing life that needs to be lived on and pushed on.”

Purpose

The Collington family wishes to pay forward the generous donations given at the time of Sam’s passing. 

Beginning with the Class of 2022 and continuing for 25 years, through the Class of 2046, the Interboro Education Foundation will coordinate the Sam Collington Memorial Scholarship.

Annually, one $1,000 scholarship will be awarded to the recipient who – like Sam – is one of a kind, charismatic, a leader, and civic-minded.

Eligibility

• Someone like Sam Collington - avid reader and writer, warm, charismatic, intelligent, funny, and passionate about civics and voter responsibility;
• graduating senior student;
• grade point average of 3.0 or above;
• adherence to scholarship criteria and due-date guidelines established by the Interboro High School Scholarship Committee; and
• timely submission of an essay in response to a prompt designated by the Collington Family.

A copy of the above requirements can be found here.