News Release

Savannah Koval of Plantation Key School Wins Prepaid College Foundation’s Governor’s Recognition Scholarship 7th Grader Awarded 4-Year University Scholarship

Savannah Koval, who is growing up in the nature-rich Florida Keys and loves being out on the water, was struck by something Gov. Bob Graham once said: "If we are to protect our environmental treasures, Republicans and Democrats need to forget their political stripes and remember we are all citizens who enjoy Florida’s natural beauty."

"He grew up in South Florida where he would wake up to the gorgeous Everglades," the seventh grader at Plantation Key School said in an essay submitted to the Governor’s Recognition Scholarship competition. "Bob (Graham) has always been an environmental person. He did everything he could to save the environment in some way."

Koval, describing how Bob Graham during his governorship committed hundreds of millions of dollars to Save the Everglades and fought development there, is a winner of the new Governor’s Recognition Scholarship from the Florida Prepaid College Foundation. Valued at about $21,500, the Foundation-sponsored prepaid college scholarship will pay for four years of tuition and fees at a Florida university. She will receive the scholarship at an 8:15 a.m., June 1 awards assembly at Plantation Key School in Tavernier.

"He truly was one of the greatest governors ever," the National Junior Honor Society member wrote in her essay. "He was one of the hardest working men I’ve ever heard of." She mentioned his trademark workdays doing jobs such as civics teacher for a semester at a Miami high school, fisherman and factory worker.

"I have had no experience in my life which matches the eight years the people of Florida allowed me to serve them as governor," said Bob Graham, Florida governor from 1979-86 and U.S. senator from 1987-2005. "As governor, there is such satisfaction in working directly with Floridians to make our state a better place, particularly in improving schools and protecting Florida’s beautiful environment." Congratulating Savannah, Graham said, "Your essay captured that joy for which I am very appreciative and honored."

The Florida Prepaid College Foundation is the scholarship arm of the Florida Prepaid College Board that administers the Florida Prepaid College Plan. The Foundation has used private donations to create the Governor’s Recognition Scholarship, awarded this year for the first time to a seventh-grade student in Hillsborough, Monroe and Jefferson counties.

"I served with Gov. Graham for eight years, and she’s captured the true Bob Graham," said former state Sen. Ron Silver, the Foundation Board member presenting the award to Koval. "He was a people person, reflected in his workdays in which he experienced what the common man was experiencing."

Students interested in the scholarship were asked to write an essay about the Florida governor whom they most admired and his legacy. In the future, the scholarship will rotate among the state’s 67 counties, with three school districts’ seventh graders eligible each year.

Please go to www.floridaprepaidcollegefoundation.com for more information.

Read Savannah's Essay

Diane Hirth
Director of Marketing and Communications
Florida Prepaid College Board
1801 Hermitage Boulevard Suite 210
Tallahassee, FL 32308
850.488.8514
850.339.3151 cell

diane.murdock@myfloridaprepaid.com