MATTHEW STEBILA IS AWARDED THE 2026 SELINSGROVE AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE - KAY SPEIGELMYER AWARD

Each year the Selinsgrove Area Chamber of Commerce awards a scholarship to a Selinsgrove Area High School Student who has been an outstanding member of the Selinsgrove Area High School Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), in honor and memory of Kay Spigelmyer, a long-time Chamber member and outspoken supporter. This year’s winner is Matthew Stebila. Matthew is a senior at Selinsgrove Area High School and is an active member of the FBLA.    

School honors he has received include: National Honor Society, Young American Award for November 2025, President of the FBLA, President of the Technical Student Association (TSA), President of the Concert Band, and Marching Band Section Leader.  He plays trumpet in the high school band and competes with the high school Track and Field and Cross-Country Teams.       

Outside school activities include Boy Scouts (Eagle Scout award) and volunteering at his church.   He also enjoys playing games, including Contain and Mario Kart.  He is employed after school hours by Weis Markets as a Customer Servicer Rep.

Matthew is the son of Mike and Angela Stebila. He has three siblings: Madison, age 23 (she was the Chamber Award winner in 2021), Benjamin, age 15 and Michael age 20.  He will be attending Bucknell University in the fall to obtain a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.  

Selinsgrove  Area Chamber of Commerce Award

The awards began in 2002. The idea arose in 2001 to give two awards annually, one to a student who had demonstrated community involvement, and one to a student who was a member of FBLA and had demonstrated high scholastic achievements (GPA). Both were to be awarded on behalf of the Selinsgrove Chamber by Selinsgrove Projects, Inc (SPI). It took until 2002 to get it all lined up, approved by the school, etc.  At that time, the SPI president was the Chamber vice-president, and the Chamber president was the SPI vice-president. The two operated together until about 2005 when the CVS building became available and SPI broke away from the Chamber.      

Somewhere between initial set up and about 2006, the designations of the recipients were changed to FBLA president and Student Council President.  That made it easy to select winners, but it led to undeserving and undergraduate winners.

The awards began at $250 each.  In 2004, the awards were raised to $400. In 2005, they were raised again to $500. In 2007, the awards were split, the FBLA award given by the Chamber and the Student Council Award given by SPL. In 2014, the Chamber award was raised to $1,000.   

Funding for awards, as the “scholarship fund”, was initially established by a “Spring Social” – dinner and auction at SU. These socials ran from the spring of 2002 through the spring of 2004.    Thereafter, scholarships were funded individually by SPI and Chamber. In 2006, it appeared that Antiques on the Isle was netting a profit on account of grant money availability for advertising, and so monies were earmarked by the Chamber from Antiques for the Chamber’s scholarship. 

We do not keep separate funds in the Chamber. All payments come out of our general fund.    Interestingly, the 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 the Chamber’s scholarships all came out of the Chamber’s general fund, not a “scholarship fund.”

Award Criteria:

Originally given to a student who is a member of FBLA and had demonstrated high scholastic achievement (GPA).  Somewhere along the way it was then changed to the current FBLA President. This created some problems, as when the president was not a graduating senior, or where others who were not President were deemed more worthy of the award.

In 2014, the criteria was changed to “a senior who has demonstrated initiative in furthering the goals of the Future Business Leaders of America, demonstrated consistent leadership ability and has worked to promote FBLA goals in the student body” -  to be nominated by the FBLA advisor. 

In 2019 the award was named the Kay Spigelmyer Award, in honor of Kay Spigelmyer. Kay was a long-time member and outspoken supporter of the Selinsgrove Chamber until her death in 2018.