ABOUT RIDGE AMS RECIPIENTS
Donors have asked RidgeAMS to tell them about the students their donations help. While we want to respect the privacy of RidgeAMS recipients, we also appreciate the interest of our supporters. “Our kids” are remarkable, as are their stories.
While Basking Ridge is a prosperous community, not everyone is thriving. Some students at RHS endure unthinkable family traumas, serious illnesses, heart-breaking losses and more. Ridge AMS looks to help the ones who somehow manage to take positive steps toward a brighter future. Our goal is to change one life every year. Recipients have told us we’ve done just that.
One recipient lived alone with a step-parent so violent that police advised the student to secure a restraining order — but it was the step-parent’s house was the student’s only home. His AMS award funded a used car to travel to another state, rent an apartment, and enroll in a community college. He has since earned a bachelor’s degree and promising internship.
One recipient broke a Ridge football coach’s heart by quitting the team so he could support his mother and sisters in another country. He walked to his job as a Bernardsville supermarket clerk after school every day and weekends, nearly full-time, while a full-time student. A local customer reported that his line was always longest — not because he was slow, but because everyone loved chatting with him, with no idea he how demanding his life was.
One blind recipient had been home-schooled before high school. RHS was not ready for visually impaired students. She helped the school establish protocols for future sight issues students. After a somewhat sheltered childhood, as a teenager she spoke at a national conference in Texas supporting the visually-impaired and flew home from it — by herself.
One recipient arrived in this country alone, on foot, at 15. He spoke only an indigenous Mexican language and was unable to understand the border patrols’ English or Spanish. After connecting with a relative in Basking Ridge, he “found out school was free” and was determined to attend while working nights. Imagine learning English when no one could interpret your first language. He praised the devotion of Ridge faculty and staff for working with him before school and on weekends. At 18, he graduated from RHS.
Others have climbed hills less dramatic, yet plenty steep. They, too, have demonstrated character and determination in the face of illnesses, homelessness, and personal challenges. Staff at Ridge have told us more than once that, while they had worked closely with a student, they had no idea how serious their problems were. Vetting confirmed these students’ application essays. They “just didn’t want to complain.”
We ask applicants what they will do with the funds if they win. Many say tuition, a computer, a car for school or work, and one took a trip. The response we’ll never forget was “a warm jacket and a mattress.” The Ridge AMS can be used for any kind of personal growth. There are no restrictions. We’re recognizing character and determination — we trust Ridge AMS recipients to make sound decisions.
These Ridge AMS recipients have demonstrated the kind of personal strength and growth the scholarship’s founders saw in our friend and inspiration, John Peterson, RHS ’67.
ABOUT JOHN PETERSON, RHS ’67
Ridge High School was only six years old when John Peterson graduated in 1967. Most of his classmates went off to college, and then started careers and families. John did not have these options. He joined the U.S. Army, and was sent to Vietnam. On the night of March 10, 1969, in Quang Tin Province, south of Danang, SP4 Peterson was killed by small arms fire. He was 20 years old.
John spent his high school years at Bonnie Brae Farm for Boys, then a residential facility for youngsters from troubled homes. Bonnie Brae offered a safe haven to its young charges, but the transition to suburban, high-achieving Bernards Township schools was not easy for some of its mostly-urban youths. John made it look easy. At Ridge High, he distinguished himself not so much as a traditional scholar, athlete or artist. Rather, we remember him as a friend, a participant and an optimist. John was not a victim of the circumstances that sent him away from home to endure adolescence among strangers. He rose above that to develop character and personality, ready to launch what should have been a long and meaningful life. These qualities earned him an award as “Most Improved Senior,” as well as friends with long memories.
His death soon after graduation meant John never had the chance to find out what he could accomplish. But the qualities that he exhibited—optimism, determination, setting goals, and striving to overcome challenging circumstances—deserve celebration. Ridge AMS recognizes and rewards these qualities in RHS seniors, and helps give them opportunities John deserved.
John Peterson can be found on the Vietnam War Memorial on panel 29W, line 002. There are also entries for him on The Virtual Wall Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial, and The Wall-USA. More information can be found at the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial Foundation.
We thank John Peterson for his service to our country, and for the inspiration he provided for the Ridge Alumni Memorial Scholarship.
Please click on the Virtual Memorial tab for recollections of other Ridge classmates and friends.