The small, tattered piece of paper never failed to leave his wallet. The words of Proverbs 19:17, “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will reward them for what they have done,” served as a reminder, an encouragement and a motto for Dusty Waldrep. That same little strip of inspiration is now carried throughout the halls of the school to spread the message he lived by everyday.

Dusty Roger Waldrep, son of Student Council sponsor Susan Waldrep and her husband Roger Waldrep, died on the morning of Sept. 28 after years of fighting an illness.

Because of his lasting impact on the school, Student Council officers collaborated to create a scholarship in Dusty’s honor that will be awarded to a senior in Student Council. The Dusty Waldrep Leadership Scholarship will provide a one time gift of $2,500 to a student based on academics, character and involvement in Student Council.

The application must include an official high school transcript through seven semesters with a minimum GPA of 3.0, a personal essay up to 500 words and two letters of recommendation, one from a school employee and one from an adult outside of school. Applications are due by April 8, and the winner will be announced during the annual awards assembly in May.

“This is a kind of scholarship we’ve never had for kids in Student Council and Leadership who have all these volunteer hours,” Susan Waldrep said. “This makes me really happy because a lot of people who volunteer at Community Cafe, which was one of Dusty’s passions, will be rewarded for that.”

While the student leaders collaborated with principal Brad Bailey to perfect the scholarship, they focused on the impact it would leave on Student Council.

“This scholarship will help build a stronger unity among our students,” Bailey said. “It will also give a focus to what our Leadership and Student Council should be striving towards in academics, character and school and community involvement. Having a scholarship in Dusty’s honor is a great way to help remind our students to keep focused on being a person of strong character and being diligent in their commitments to themselves and others.”

This scholarship is unlike any others offered through the school in commemoration of someone’s life.

“The Dusty Waldrep Leadership Scholarship is one that is very unique in the fact that Dusty lived his life in a way that everyone could be proud of,” Bailey said. “Also, this scholarship was created by Texas High Student Council students through a commitment to honor Dusty and his family. That says a lot about the character and leadership of our Texas High students.”

One of the main goals when the students created the scholarship was to make sure it encompassed what was important to Dusty.

“Dusty cared a lot about college and loved to be a part of everything that the Student Council kids were doing,” Waldrep said. “The last four and a half years that he got to live with us he got to see how much work that the kids put in. He used to come up and grill, and he would say ‘I’d cook for these kids forever because they love what I’m doing out here.’ This scholarship would make him really happy.”