Abbigail Swett, left, stands with Stephen and Julie Shible and Holly Harrington, right, in front the tree that was planted in honor of Jaime Beth Shible on Friday, May 26. The tree was successfully transplanted from it’s original location to the courtyard several years ago, according to Harrington. Brian Ponce/Franklin Journal

FARMINGTON — Abbigail Swett, a senior at Mt. Blue High School, is this year’s recipient of the Jaime Beth Shible Scholarship. Swett was awarded the scholarship on Friday, May 26, in the courtyard on the Mt. Blue Campus where a tree was planted in Jaime’s memory.

Shible, a cheerleader who attended MBHS, died unexpectedly in 1997 on Memorial Day in her junior year. Her parents, Stephen and Julie Shible, started the scholarship in her name in 1998 and awarded it to a graduating cheerleader every year until 2021.

In 2021, the Shibles passed the torch to Holly Harrington, former Mt. Blue cheerleading coach, who now runs the scholarship on behalf of them. The scholarship awards the student with $500 dollars and their name is added to a plaque.

This year is the first year Harrington presented the scholarship as the class of 2022 had no viable candidates for it. The only other year the scholarship was not given out was in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Harrington, she along with Coach Dani Tannenbaum pick a recipient that is a “deserving senior that most resembles the characteristics of what Jamie displayed.”

Swett has been a part of the Mt. Blue cheerleader squad for all four years and is on the varsity cheerleading squad. Swett also puts a heavy emphasis on her education, making sure to put school before anything else.

“I’m straight A student, I have been all four years of high school,” Swett stated. “Academics was a really big part of my life growing up, and it still is because it not only impacted myself, but it impacted my team. If I ever fell off the horse, I knew it wouldn’t just be me suffering. I know it would be them too. So, it just was a really big deal to stay on it and do well.”

Swett shares a strong connection with her teammates, having been friends with many of them since she was a kid.

“My teammates are people that I’ve known since I was a little girl, and they’ve just been my friends ever since,” she stated. “It gave me a really strong sense of purpose. When I started cheering, I wasn’t in the greatest spot mentally. And it gave me something to look forward to every day, it was my consistency in my life.”

“I really owe my life to the sport and to my teammates, because I don’t know if I would even be here if it weren’t for them,” she added.

Jaime Beth Shible Scholarship has a special connection to the Swett family, as Abbigail’s father Joshua Swett was a classmate of Shible when he attended Mt. Blue High School.

“I was supposed to graduate with Jamie,” Joshua said. “We were really, really good friends so it’s nice to see [my daughter] get it. She deserves it. She worked really hard for it.”

Abbigail will be graduating from MBHS this year then attending Thomas College where she plans to major in accounting and minor in pre-law education. She will miss her team, though.

“This was my last season,” she said. “If I could continue doing this for the rest of my life I would, but if I had to say one thing to my teammates, push yourself. I did not make it my freshman year. I was an alternate. So, I didn’t think that I was going to continue, and I did, and I do not regret a second of it.”