Comic store offers scholarship to Taylor students

KOKOMO, Ind. (AP) - Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, refused to use his unnatural athletic ability to secure a sports scholarship. Shawn Hilton, owner of Comics Cube in downtown Kokomo, has only a few requirements for his Comics Cubed Excelsior Scholarship. First, students receiving the scholarship must attend college the year after they graduate high school. Second, they cannot be awarded a sports scholarship.

The scholarship is awarded to a member of the Taylor High School graphic novel club, where students come together to discuss graphic novels, comic books, superhero movies and TV shows.

Steve Dishon, athletic director at Taylor, started the club several years ago. He wanted to help students realize that reading doesn't have to be boring. Comic books and graphic novels can be a great way to get students away from video games, and the club is a way for the students to share their interests, Dishon said.

This year, the club is teaming up with the Taylor art club, run by Dishon's wife. He said it just makes sense to bring the two clubs together because comic books are art-driven, and there were already several students in both clubs. He's hoping they'll be able to provide scholarships for a student from each club.

Hilton started the scholarship four years ago. He named it the Comics Cubed Excelsior Scholarship because Stan Lee uses the word Excelsior often. Lee is the chairman of Marvel Comics, and he helped create several comic book heroes, including Spider-Man.

Hilton only offers the scholarship to Taylor students because Taylor is the only school with a graphic novel club, he said. However, he's trying to grow interest at Central Middle School by donating comics to one of the classes. He has a fundraiser where people can pay 50 cents to pick out a kid-friendly comic book, which he will donate to Central. The money goes directly to the Taylor scholarship fund.

Students in the club meet several times a year to play games, discuss graphic novels and comic books, and enjoy each other's company, Hilton said. He regularly attends the meetings and brings board games. If they've chosen a comic or graphic novel to discuss, he'll order multiple copies and offer it to the students at a discount.

He also offers comics to home school groups and the library, he said.

Hilton is always doing some sort of charity work, Dishon said, and he rarely gets credit for it. The scholarship is just one way he's helping the community.

The winners in the previous years have been very active members of the club, Dishon said. The last two years, the students were four-year members who attended most of the fundraising events, such as First Fridays. At last week's First Friday, students painted faces to raise money. Hilton also provides them with a table at Kokomo Con, a comic convention held in the fall, where they continue to raise money for the scholarship.

Jordan Doran, who received the scholarship last year, said he's going to miss being a part of the club. He joined freshman year after Dishon brought some graphic novels to class.

The club often debated, with slideshow presentations and passionate speeches, about which comics or universes were better. Doran hasn't firmly picked a side between D.C. and Marvel, but he enjoyed how passionate people could get about it. His favorite comic series is Deadpool.

He's going to attend Purdue University. He's not sure if they have a similar club, but if they do he'll look into it, he said. But it won't be the same.

"I'm definitely going to miss that club and skipping out on lunch to go to that," he said.

Hilton accepts donations for the fund at his store. He has a bucket sitting out for donations, which he collects throughout the school year.

The scholarship is not tied to academic performance at all, Hilton said. Any graduating senior in the club can be eligible for the scholarship, as they long as they follow Peter Parker's example of straying away from sports scholarships.

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Source: Kokomo Tribune, http://bit.ly/29yZJxs

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Information from: Kokomo Tribune, http://www.ktonline.com