Winchester High School Student Awarded Local Scholarship

has selected graduating senior Chelsea Fujimoto as this year’s . Fujimoto topped 26 classmates to earn the honor, which is accompanied by a $10,000 merit scholarship to be applied to the four-year college or university of her choice.

The Woburn-based Cummings Foundation sponsors the McKeown Scholars competition, now in its 15th year.

“An ambitious young woman with excellent communication skills, Chelsea is an excellent representative of the McKeown Scholars program,” said Joel Sweets, the Foundation’s executive director. “We are pleased to be able to recognize her achievements and reward her hard work.”

Fujimoto will attend Skidmore College this fall where she plans to pursue a liberal arts degree with a double major in biology and Spanish.

“More than the money, it is such a confidence-booster,” Fujimoto said. “This is the first major award I’ve won, and it is an honor to win it from such a well-respected organization.”

Outside of academics, Fujimoto is actively involved with the school’s Gay Straight Alliance, as well as Dandelion Exchange, an annual two-week volunteer trip to China, during which, students teach English to the children of migrant workers. Fujimoto participated in this program her freshman and sophomore years, and has plans to do so again at the end of the current school year.

Winchester’s high school seniors in the top 20 percent of their class were invited to participate in the McKeown Scholars competition, which began on March 9 with a written essay under exam conditions at Winchester High School. Staff from the school’s English Department evaluated the anonymous essays and selected the top four as finalists for the award. The winner was determined based on overall essay quality, application packet, community service record, outstanding reputation and a personal interview.

This year’s essay question asked students to persuade a philanthropist of the worthiness of a particular charity. Fujimoto essay supported the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

“The question definitely caught me off guard, and I sat and racked my brain for a couple of minutes,” Fujimoto said. “I plan to go into biology, and so was able to talk about cancer research.”

The McKeown Scholars Program was established in 1996 in memory of James L. McKeown, late president of Cummings Properties and a Winchester resident at the time of his death at age 41. McKeown left a wife, Denise, and two young daughters, Molly and Kelly.

Following his death, Woburn honored him with the naming of the James L. McKeown Memorial Interchange over I-93, and the city of Beverly dedicated the James L. McKeown Elementary School in his memory.