Following the death of principal Carl Hudson during the 2022 school year, MHS staffers created the Carl Hudson Memorial Scholarship, a $1,000 scholarship offered to two minority students who write outstanding essays as part of the application process.

Senior Markeese Hunt is one of the two scholarship recipients this year.

“I was actually pretty happy that I get to share a part of him with me,” Hunt said.

Hunt wrote his scholarship essay on the educational difficulties he faced throughout high school.

“Well, I wrote about my challenges from freshman year to now, with me not taking education seriously to now knowing that it’s very important to me,” Hunt said.

Hunt also said he was excited for the role the scholarship would play in his future at Missouri Baptist University where he will play football.

Ronda Costa, administrative assistant for the freshman office, has had a close connection with Hudson’s family.

Costa said she helped Hudson’s family get in contact with Lisa Nieder, administrative assistant to the Activities Office, and Paula Ake, college counselor, in order to help set up the scholarship.

“The application process is really about you as a person, things that would make you be like Mr. Hudson,” Costa said.

Students had to submit an application to a committee composed of Costa, the principals and the college counselors.

The Hudson family prefers that each year a boy and girl is picked, and so far the council has held to this trend.

Kilea Jenkins, senior, is the second recipient this year.

“The whole goal of it is to really do a scholarship that really is just about the people and their personality and their perseverance and everything that encompasses them, it doesn’t have anything to do with their grades,” Costa said.

Costa said Hudson always supported all students at MHS and the Hudson family wanted to give back to kids who struggle financially.

“Not all kids get scholarships because of their academics, but a lot of kids go to college and still need that financial help,” Costa said. “Their goal with this scholarship is to help those kids who need a little bit more in the benefit department of getting a scholarship.”

The scholarship fund allows Hudson to positively impact the MHS community just as he always found ways to help students at the school during his life, Costa said.

“He would have them come work and sweep the floors that way he could give them money, just so he wasn’t giving them money for free, but had them work towards something,” Costa said. “He would make bets with kids if they had certain grades they want. He would plan a dinner for them, he would give them a certain amount of money, he would always come in just to try to have these kids reach certain goals.”

Senior Principal Dr. Richard Regina said the scholarship is a way for Hudson to keep giving back to MHS. 

“In the next couple of years, there’s not going to be too many students that know about Mr. Hudson anymore, and that part is sad, but the part that makes me happy is that some of these students who are sixth, seventh and eighth graders who have never have met Mr. Hudson, there’s a chance that he can make a positive impact on them as well,” Dr. Regina said.

Dr. Regina also said that the scholarship serves the role of continuing Hudson’s role in the school.

“I think it’s important because it allows his legacy to live on and it provides students some financial resources as they head off to college,” Dr. Regina said, “and I know that’s something that Mr. Hudson, since he oversaw the MACC, a big component of that was preparing students for life after high school.”

Hudson’s family and MHS organizations that set up fundraisers throughout the year helped to fund the scholarship. There is enough money as of now to award students for the next five years.