The Amputee Coalition announced that two recipients have been awarded the Scott Decker, MD, Memorial Scholarship. Thomas Mercer and Haedyn Standridge will each be awarded the $1,000 scholarship toward college tuition for the 2016-2017 academic year. High school seniors, recent high school graduates, adults returning to school, and current college students are eligible to apply for the annual scholarship.
Mercer, who has an amputation caused by a lawn mower accident in 2001, will attend Colorado State University and major in mechanical engineering and bioengineering, with a goal of designing prosthetic devices. Active in the robotics club and wrestling in high school, he recently graduated from James Madison High School, Vienna, Virginia.
In 2015, Standridge was hit by a train, which led to a left transtibial amputation. He recently graduated from Carnegie Vanguard High School, Houston, where he participated in the Boy Scouts of America, the gaming club, and debate. He will study integrated communications at the University of Houston.