Foundation aids Corona del Mar students

Danette Goulet

CORONA DEL MAR -- Fewer than six months after a freak accident kept

Brian Campbell from realizing his life’s dreams, a foundation set up in

his memory has given four others a boost toward theirs.

A senior at Corona del Mar High School, Brian died in January after he

fell and hit his head when he was getting out of a friend’s car.

The blow, which didn’t even leave a mark on the handsome young man,

caused a cerebral hemorrhage that took his life, said his grandmother,

Collene Campbell.

Doctors say the extreme reaction to hitting his head may mean that the

arteries in his brain had never healed properly from a surgery he had

when he was 6 months old, she added.

As an infant, Brian had brain surgery for an ear infection so rare

that it made the medical journals, she said. For the first 10 years of

his life, the boy was closely monitored.

In memory of the fun-loving youth with a ready and infectious smile,

the family set up the Brian Scott Campbell Humanitarian Award using the

money they had saved for his college plus additional donations.

Students applied for the scholarship as they would any other, but the

family was not looking for purely academic scholars.

“This was really a humanitarian award,” Collene Campbell said.

The family was looking for someone who went that extra mile to help

others, she said.

“Not for community service required by school, but what they do for

other people with their church or for someone less fortunate,” she said.

“Just someone with very good heart, just like we felt Brian was.”

That is what the Campbells found.

Two Corona del Mar High School students, Camille Packer and Wesley

Hockinson, each received $5,000.

Two special recognition awards in the amount of $2,000 each were also

awarded to Lauren Riddle and Taumata Grey, also from Corona del Mar.

Grey also performed a song he wrote in Brian Campbell’s honor at the

graduation ceremony.

“These four just stood out,” Collene Campbell said of the recipients.

“They’re just very special young people.”