Scholarships

CJ Smuin was a talented, hard-nosed, dedicated multisport student athlete, but nothing brought him more joy than his first love and his passion; baseball. 

This scholarship was created to celebrate CJ’s life and his love of the game.  Each year it will be awarded to a Senior on the Carbon High School Baseball Team that has demonstrated the same qualities as CJ in his approach to life, on and off the field.  This award is not based merely on talent.  Talent is just a small piece of what made CJ so special.  He was fiercely competitive.  Losing was never an option, and when it did occur, it fueled him to improve.  He was a leader, and understood that leadership took many forms and could be seen in his example, private conversations, or vocally to his teammates.  He was the teammate we all could learn from.  He celebrated other teammates in their success and was there to pick them up in their failures.  Nothing was expected from his teammates that he was not willing to do himself.  Few days passed in which he didn’t do something to work on his game.  Countless hours in the cage, bucket after bucket of groundballs, watching and studying the game to improve his baseball IQ, and early morning lifting were all part of the sacrifice that he happily exchanged to be better for himself and his teammates.

Even with his serious approach to the game, he still had the uncanny knack for dishing out a quick joke or comment, followed by a smirk or crooked grin, that would ease even the most tense situations.  Hard work, tough games, or difficult situations never stopped CJ from enjoying himself, his teammates, and his coaches.  He also understood that his school work, although not his favorite aspect of being a student athlete, carried the utmost importance in order to chase his goal of playing Division 1 baseball. 

It is our hope that this award will help provide further opportunity to the recipient of this scholarship and that they will carry CJ’s attributes and memory with them in the pursuit of their goals, academically and athletically.  

Perhaps one day, some of the names that grace this award will go on to play at the next level, or even D1, as CJ had always dreamed.

The first scholarship the CJ Smuin Memorial Foundation created was to celebrate CJ’s life and his love of the game.  Each year, it is awarded to a senior on the Carbon High School Baseball Team who  has demonstrated the same qualities as CJ in his approach to life, on and off the field.  It was always our goal to be able to also offer a scholarship to a female athlete from Carbon High.  That goal has now become a reality. 

The female athlete scholarship applications will be judged following many of the same criteria as the baseball scholarship; however, to be eligible, each applicant must be nominated by her coach, and the applicants can be a member of any team at Carbon High.  Each sport can have up to two nominees.  If you are nominated, we want to congratulate you.  It speaks volumes not only to your athletic abilities, but also to how your coaches view you as a teammate, student, and person.

This award is not based merely on talent.  Talent is just a small piece of what made CJ so special.  He was fiercely competitive.  Losing was never an option, and when it did occur, it fueled him to improve.  He was a leader who  understood that leadership took many forms and could be seen in his example, private conversations, or vocally to his teammates.  He was the teammate we all could learn from.  He celebrated other teammates in their successes and was there to pick them up in their failures.  Nothing was expected from his teammates that he was not willing to do himself.  Few days passed in which he didn’t do something to work on his game.  Countless hours in the cage, bucket after bucket of ground balls, watching and studying the game to improve his baseball IQ, and early morning lifting were all part of the sacrifice that he happily exchanged to be better for himself and his teammates.

Even with his serious approach to the game, he still had the uncanny knack for dishing out a quick joke or comment, followed by a smirk or crooked grin      that would ease even the most tense situations.  Hard work, tough games, or difficult situations never stopped CJ from enjoying himself, his teammates, and his coaches.  He also understood that his school work, although not his favorite aspect of being a student athlete, carried the utmost importance in order to chase his goal of playing Division 1 baseball.