Residents can vote online through June 17 to make McCallie School valedictorian Ryan Schumacher the first Scholar Athlete Milk Mustache of the Year MVP.
"The person with the most online votes will have $5,000 donated to a charity in their name," Schumacher said. "To have people vote for you is always cool."
One vote per day can be cast for Schumacher here.
In order to qualify for the MVP contest, which Schumacher said is new this year, he was first selected along with 24 other students in the United States to receive a $7,500 SAMMY scholarship and a free trip to Orlando, Fla. He will be in Florida this summer from June 24-26. During his trip, Schumacher will meet celebrity athletes such as Dara Torres and Lindsey Vonn who were responsible for choosing the 25 winners out of nearly 40,000 applicants.
To be selected for the SAMMY scholarship, which is awarded to young athletes, he said he had to send a picture of himself to the judges.
Schumacher said he is looking forward to his trip to Orlando and meeting the other scholarship winners. But he is more excited about his summer of odd jobs, including his role as a counselor at the McCallie Sports Camp, leading up to his first semester at Stanford University.
"I grew up as a Stanford fan," said Schumacher, who is an avid cross country runner and hopes to be accepted on the Stanford cross country team. "I have nationals June 18 for cross county in Greensboro, N.C. I'm running the Steeple Chase. I have to drop about 15 to 20 seconds from my time. If I can, the coach said he'll strongly consider offering me a spot on the team. All I want is a chance to run with some of the best athletes in college."
At Standford, he is planning to study Spanish and pre-med. He then plans to complete medical school and join Doctors Without Borders.
Schumacher said he feels McCallie has prepared him well for college, teaching him how to create and maintain a schedule for school while still allowing time for fun. Though he struggled with history and thrived in the sciences, he said his teachers nurtured both his strengths and weaknesses.
"I think McCallie hires faculty not only for their ability to teach, but also for their ability outside the classroom," Schumacher said. "They're more like friends and mentors. They do so much more than just teach, and I feel like a lot of the growing experiences have come from outside the classroom rather than in it."