Coning receives Christopher Smail Memorial Scholarship from Lewes Public Library

In a ceremony in the Delaware Room of Lewes Public Library this week, Alicia Coning, of Lewes received the 2012 Christopher Smail Memorial Scholarship. The $1,000 scholarship recognizes exemplary service to the library by volunteer students. Coning is a 2012 graduate of Cape Henlopen High School.  She has provided volunteer services to the library including support for the annual book sales.

Former Lewes Public Library Director Chrys Dudbridge remembered when Coning was much younger, she and a friend also pitched in to help when a broken water pipe flooded the children’s wing of the library.   “Ali helped move books out of the flooded wing and raised money to help buy new books for the children’s section.  She and her friend Annie Williamson set up a lemonade stand on New Road and raised somewhere between $75 and $100 for new books,” said Dudbridge.

In addition to receiving a check to help pay for college expenses at Towson University, where she plans to study forensic chemistry, Coning has also had her name placed on a new plaque that shows former scholarship winners.  The plaque will hang in the teen area of the library.

“Ali is contributing to the community and the community is recognizing her contributions,” said Karen Smail who presented the check and plaque.  She is the mother of Christopher Smail, a 2010 graduate of Cape Henlopen High School, for whom the scholarship has been named.  Smail was a volunteer and assistant at the library during his student years.  He died in an automobile crash in November, 2011, while driving to college.  At the library, Smail was known as “Page Master.”