Lake senior awarded full-tuition scholarship

One glance at Violet Seaman and you know she is not the sort of student to be a troublemaker. Still, when Lake Principal Dan Harold unexpectedly requested that Violet be pulled out of class on the morning of Jan. 23, even Violet thought she had done something wrong.

“I sent a pass to Violet’s second-period class requesting that she see me – and I was sure to check the line next to ‘immediately,’” Harold said. “I met her as she arrived at the main office. Needless to say, she was a little nervous and was wondering what she could have done to ‘be in trouble.’”

Harold led the somewhat flustered senior to the counseling office conference room, and as the door opened, Violet was greeted by her mother, grandparents, aunt and a gentleman carrying a rather large check with an even larger number on it.

That gentleman was Mezekiah Tobias, an admissions counselor from Thiel College, and what he handed Violet was a full-tuition scholarship worth more than $158,000.

“I’m still in shock,” Violet said. “This feels unreal, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity. It means I can focus on learning and growing without worrying about the financial side.”

According to Jamie Cole, Violet’s mother, Violet’s selection was completely unexpected. Cole said she only learned of the selection process because she happened to be visiting Thiel, which was recruiting Violet for volleyball.

“We first visited Thiel in November for athletic recruitment,” Cole said. “The scholarship competition was the start of December. Visiting Thiel was in the middle of athletic visits with multiple NAIA and smaller private schools.”

Thiel’s Academic Scholarship Competition involves groups of students visiting the Greenville, Pennsylvania, campus to spend most of a day being interviewed and participating in activities. Students’ grade-point averages, test scores and extracurricular activities are also considered.

Because Thiel hosts two competitions and an online virtual event each year, Violet did not expect a scholarship offer. As her mother put it, “Violet thought the experience was great, but there was no chance she’d win.”

Violet’s accomplishments include being a three-time academic letter winner, a two-year orchestra letter winner and a three-year volleyball letter winner. She earned second-team All-Stark County volleyball honors in 2024 and 2025, honorable mention all-district volleyball honors in 2024, and was a four-year high school softball player.

She is a member of the National Honor Society, a 2025 recipient of the Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association Silver Certificate award and completed the ROX Girls Program during the 2024-25 school year.

Violet accomplished all of this as a biomedical sciences student in the career-technical program at Hoover High School and finished with a 4.2 GPA.

Harold said Violet never hesitated to take a challenging course load.

“As a member of our National Honor Society and a student-athlete, we are thankful to have had a person of her quality wearing a Lake uniform and representing our school and community,” he said.

Cole said keeping the scholarship a secret was no easy task.

“The Thiel admissions counselor called me the week before, the 13th, I believe,” she said. “And we worked together with the school to decide a day to surprise her. I was really having to maneuver because she was about to commit to another school.”

Once in the conference room, the secret was finally revealed as Violet and her family celebrated.

“This scholarship is life-changing for Violet,” Cole said. “It lifts a huge financial burden and allows her to move forward with confidence and freedom.”