William M. Shogran Jr Scholarship Fund
Updated: 12/2024
Tragically we lost our son William on August 13th 2014 while he was practicing football with his high school team in north Florida. He was 14 years young. While this has been a very devastating and difficult loss for our family, our desire is to honor William's life through this scholarship fund bearing his name: The William M. Shogran Jr Scholarship Fund.
The mission of the scholarship fund is to financially assist families sending their children to camps, conferences, and even furthering their education in the areas of influence William valued the most. William loved God, his family, and his friends very much.
One of the stories that prominently describes William best was shared during his memorial service. During the service many of William's friends from his youth group were seen wearing blue shirts with the phrase "Live like a 10" on the front of them.
The phrase came out of a conversation held between William and several other students and youth sponsors at a summer youth camp in Lake Wales. During the conference, students were asked to rate themselves on a scale of 1-10 regarding their level of commitment to sharing the love of Jesus with other people. After many of the students ranked themselves low on the scale, William remarked that the low scores depressed him, and exclaimed he was committed to being a"10".
The phrase "Live like a 10" caught on and students in his youth group used William's enthusiasm for life and faith as a mantra to model their own lives after.
William attended both a youth camp and Christ in Youth conference over the summer with his youth group and we can tell you without a doubt they were two of the most impactful weeks of his life. In the days following William's passing we were reflecting on these two weeks and were saddened to think that they almost never happened. Unfortunately our family wasn't in a position to afford the cost of these trips at the time and did not see them happening for him. That's when our church stepped in and provided some financial assistance for William to go. We were so thankful and relieved.
In keeping William's memory alive and influential, our desire is to provide a fund to scholarship students that are experiencing financial strain the same opportunity that was afforded us and in turn deeply impacted William's life. These opportunities will include camps, conferences, events, and even college. The fund was established August 18th at our home church Sebastian Christian Church.
We are thankful for the opportunity to help others through keeping William's memory alive.
Thank you,
William and Courtney Shogran
The mission of the scholarship fund is to financially assist families sending their children to camps, conferences, and even furthering their education in the areas of influence William valued the most. William loved God, his family, and his friends very much.
One of the stories that prominently describes William best was shared during his memorial service. During the service many of William's friends from his youth group were seen wearing blue shirts with the phrase "Live like a 10" on the front of them.
The phrase came out of a conversation held between William and several other students and youth sponsors at a summer youth camp in Lake Wales. During the conference, students were asked to rate themselves on a scale of 1-10 regarding their level of commitment to sharing the love of Jesus with other people. After many of the students ranked themselves low on the scale, William remarked that the low scores depressed him, and exclaimed he was committed to being a"10".
The phrase "Live like a 10" caught on and students in his youth group used William's enthusiasm for life and faith as a mantra to model their own lives after.
William attended both a youth camp and Christ in Youth conference over the summer with his youth group and we can tell you without a doubt they were two of the most impactful weeks of his life. In the days following William's passing we were reflecting on these two weeks and were saddened to think that they almost never happened. Unfortunately our family wasn't in a position to afford the cost of these trips at the time and did not see them happening for him. That's when our church stepped in and provided some financial assistance for William to go. We were so thankful and relieved.
In keeping William's memory alive and influential, our desire is to provide a fund to scholarship students that are experiencing financial strain the same opportunity that was afforded us and in turn deeply impacted William's life. These opportunities will include camps, conferences, events, and even college. The fund was established August 18th at our home church Sebastian Christian Church.
We are thankful for the opportunity to help others through keeping William's memory alive.
Thank you,
William and Courtney Shogran
