Gabby Day’s oversized check, the one like those that occasionally pop up on sweepstakes television commercials, has been propped against a piano bench in her family’s living room in recent days.
 
Whether that’s a permanent spot for the Andover senior’s symbolic keepsake of the life-changing Rudd Foundation scholarship she learned she was receiving on March 22 remains to be seen. There has been much to do since that day.
 
“It’s definitely been a hit the ground running kind of thing,” said Day, a recipient of a $100,000, full-ride college scholarship awarded to Pell Grant-eligible students. “But it’s something that’s probably going to be hard to fathom until I’m sending them my receipts and school bills.”
 
For Day, a National Honor Society member, trombone player and distance runner for the Trojans’ cross country and track teams, the scholarship creates an opportunity for her to study architectural engineering beginning this fall at Kansas State. Andover Public Schools captured the magnitude of that reality with a video that included Day’s parents, Nate and Holly, receiving news of the financial award in the school office and Gabby discovering it during a classroom announcement in front of her fellow band members.
 
“I’m really glad they got that on tape,” said Day, this week’s CapFed® True Blue® Student of the Week. “I know what it felt like for me, but to see (my parents’) reaction was so great.”
 
It’s also a testament to Day’s years of hard work.
 
Day has challenged herself academically, compiling an unweighted grade-point average just under 3.9 in coursework that includes Advanced Placement classes. Athletically, Day helped Andover win three Ark Valley-Chisholm Trail Division II cross country titles and qualify for state three times, and was part of the Trojans’ fifth-place-finishing 3,200-meter relay team in Class 5A last spring.
 
Her band participation has included solo and ensemble performances at the district and state levels. As a sophomore, she auditioned and was selected to the Kansas Music Educators Association’s all-district band.
 
Away from school, she officiates youth soccer games and serves in the children’s ministry working with 4-year-olds at Life.Church East Wichita, where her father is a youth pastor.
 
“I think whenever there are kids who are really high achievers who are trying to become a member of NHS or get these really large scholarships, they’re all great kids and a lot of times you’re splitting hairs,” Andover principal Brent Riedy said. “She does all those little things that are the difference between a lot of good kids and being really great.
 
“She does everything. She probably does too much. I think she’s been brought up the right way in terms of you have to work really hard for what you want to get, and now it’s paying off.”
 
Applying for the Rudd scholarship gave Day a chance to take a big-picture look at her four years of high school at Andover. She invested several hours putting together a resume and interviewed in Wichita before a scholarship panel.
 
“I was going back and looking at my application and I just went, ‘Wow,’” Day said. “I never really thought about it, but I guess I’ve kind of achieved a lot these years.
 
“I’ve gone to state for cross country. I’ve gone to state for track. I have letters and academics and athletics and band. All those little things have slowly added up. … I really feel encouraged by that.”
 
Day credited the daily environment at Andover for fostering her success.
 
“The staff, the coaches, the administration – they’re all really positive and really supportive,” Day said. “I’ve had a lot of really good experiences here of people seeing something in me and then taking the extra step of pushing me or just being a positive influence.
 
“I know that without a lot of their support, I probably wouldn’t be here in this position.”
 
Day’s influential mentors have included Jordon Regehr, Andover’s head track coach and an assistant in cross country. After Day participated in soccer her first two years at AHS, she switched to track last spring and finished fourth in the 1,600 at the AVCTL II meet and fifth in the 800 at the Andover regional, both with personal-best times.
 
Day also teamed with Jayda Kelly, Jordyn Cleary and Madelyn Wallace to win the regional title and advance to state.
 
“Gabby is everything you would want as a coach and more for what you want your athletes to be,” Regehr said. “Not just her success in athletic competition or specifically track, but she’s just incredibly selfless and always thinks of others before herself in what she does.
 
“She would be one to tell you she’s not at the elite level of runners. Her 800 and mile times are good. But she offers other forms of leadership. She’ll be the one to head up informal workouts when coaches aren’t going to be there. She’ll text the other girls to go for a run. She’s one of the only seniors we have in our true distance group and they certainly look up to her for guidance.”
 
Day has had to reassess her own path as a Rudd scholarship recipient. The financial award covers tuition, room and board, books, supplies and other costs at Wichita State, Fort Hays State, Emporia State, and, for the first time this year, K-State. Day said she was planning to attend the University of Central Missouri, but will head to Manhattan after getting her first look at the K-State campus this week.
 
In addition to her education, Day is excited about the access to personal and professional development resources the Rudd Foundation provides to its scholars.
 
“The Rudd Foundation is really about a hand up and not a hand out,” Day said. “We’re going to be going to conferences, we’re going to be doing leadership summits and things that are going to build us up individually. Honestly, we’re pretty good people to begin with, but they’re going to continue to build with us and continue to feed into our lives for years after college.
 
“They’ve taken that financial piece off our shoulders, but it’s also our responsibility to step up and be the next leaders of our generation.”