King Student Receives 2013 Patricia B. Odiorne Scholarship

AnnMarie Abraham was at her prom when she was introduced to the Greater Brandon community as the 2013 recipient of the Patricia B. Odiorne Scholarship.

The announcement came Saturday night, April 13, at the 29th annual Center Place Patron Party, held at the Center Place Fine Arts & Civic Association on Vonderburg Drive.

There, Abraham's parents, Thomas and Mary Abraham, received the award on her behalf. The Abrahams live in Brandon.

"She's the best thing to ever happen to me," said Mary Abraham, in an interview after the award's announcement. "She's a very enthusiastic person and she likes to achieve more."

A student at the International Baccaluareate magnet school program at King High School, AnnMarie Abraham is gearing up to attend Florida State University for the 2013-14 school year.

"She's a highly disciplined individual, focused on her music," Thomas Abraham said about his daughter. "Her passion is the violin and she plays piano as well."

He added that she leads young children in the choir at St. Mark's church in Tampa.

Her mother said she developed a deep love of music after attending her first piano lessons at age 5. "She picked up the violin on her own," Mary Abraham added.

The Patricia B. Odiorne Scholarship is named posthumously for a woman who helped form Center Place in its early years. Center Place, founded in 1976, shares space with the Brandon Regional Library in the Sandy Rodriguez Center at 619 Vonderburg Drive, just west of Parsons Avenue.

Odiorne's spirit is duly noted in the annual patron party program:

One could fill a book with Pat's wide-reaching civic involvement and many accomplishments. She was a dedicated servant of her community. Pat encouraged others to become involved and make Brandon a better place to live and raise a family. She served on numerous boards and chaired hundreds of committees for a number of organizations, but those who knew her knew that Center Place held a special place in her heart. Pat was a giant at heart and a driving force behind Center Place.

With the annual scholarship award, "her memory's living on, and it's going to keep living on," said Odiorne's son Ryan, who attended the patron party, where his brother, Tom, helped present the award.

Ryan Odiorne noted, too, that his daughter, Syndey, 9, was a 2013 scholarship donor; she donated back the 50-50 raffle money she won at a recent Rotary Club of Valrico meeting.

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Past Patricia B. Odiorne Scholarship Winners

• 2001 - Metta Smead
• 2002 - Amanda Cooley
• 2003 - Sara Hall
• 2004 - Kadeen Francis
• 2005 - Sarah Miller
• 2006 - Sean Curran, Brittany Fisher, Kerissa Gentile
• 2007 - Stephanie Deleanids
• 2008 - Nicole Ortega
• 2009 - Amanda Napier
• 2010 - Paige Snyder
• 2011 - Daniells S. Quichocho, Ashley Joseph
• 2012 - Casey Field

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