2026 Dennis Spisak Attitude for Gratitude Scholarship Recipient
Each year, The Summit FM and the Friends of the Summit Board are honored to award the Dennis Spisak Attitude for Gratitude Scholarship to a Struthers City Schools senior who demonstrates remarkable courage, self-awareness, and a commitment to their own well-being. This year's recipient left our entire committee moved and inspired.
The Dennis Spisak Attitude for Gratitude Scholarship was created to honor those who have faced mental health challenges and found a path forward — not necessarily a perfect one, but a meaningful one. This year's winner embodies that spirit completely.
In her essay, she wrote with striking honesty about a journey that didn't follow a straight line. She described years of quietly struggling — not from one defining moment, but from the persistent weight of anxiety, self-doubt, and a need to appear "perfect" for those around her. Through middle school, high school, and everything in between, she found herself fighting battles that were invisible to most people around her.
What makes her essay — and her story — so powerful is not the struggle itself, but what she chose to do with it. By her senior year, she made a decision: she was going to stop waiting for someone else to tell her she was going to be okay, and start telling herself. She committed to her own health, her own healing, and her own self-worth — one day at a time.
"I give gratitude to myself for realizing my self-worth, and accepting who I am rather than hating myself for it."
Those are her words, and they are exactly what this scholarship is about.
The Summit FM is proud to award her the $1,500 Dennis Spisak Attitude for Gratitude Scholarship as she prepares for the next chapter of her life. We have no doubt she will carry this same courage and honesty with her wherever she goes.
Congratulations to our 2026 recipient. Struthers is lucky to have you — and so are we.
To learn more about The Summit FM's scholarship programs, visit thesummit.fm/scholarships.