by Rachel Witkowski
Staff Writer
It was probably one of the last arm wrestling competitions County Court Judge Tyrie Boyer would have with his stepson, R.J. Nemeyer, before he heads off to college — or at least the last one Boyer figures to win.
“It took everything I had in me,” said Boyer, after squaring off with Nemeyer.
But the larger battle for Boyer and his wife, Lori, will be saying goodbye. Nemeyer is headed to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with one of the best scholarships in the nation in tow. Earlier this year, the Bolles School graduate was awarded the Morehead Foundation scholarship, the only Florida graduate to do so.
The John Motley Morehead Foundation provided 53 students this year with four-year scholarships to North Carolina valued at approximately $80,000 for in-state students and $140,000 for out-of-state students. Nemeyer was the only student selected from Florida among more than 1,600 candidates. He will receive fully paid tuition, student fees, books, meals, housing, travel, four years of study abroad (the Summer Enrichment Program), a laptop and even a little laundry money. He can also take one gap year, which is a year off school to travel the nation and overseas to earn various certifications or focus on specialized studies.
Nemeyer is starting his gap year this week before he moves to Chapel Hill. His first stop is in California where he will become a certified Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician. He’ll come back to Jacksonville before leaving for South America where he will volunteer in the construction of homes and churches.
Though Nemeyer was offered several scholarships, receiving the Morehead scholarship didn’t come easy. Being a senior at Bolles with a 4.77 Grade Point Average, the school nominated Nemeyer for the scholarship in August.
“Shoot yeah he’s smarter than me, and sometimes, his mother,” said Boyer, who has been a father to Nemeyer since he was 8 years old.
Nemeyer was among 10 students chosen from his school who then completed a preliminary application and background check before being interviewed by a panel of faculty at Bolles. Nemeyer was then selected to complete a larger application in essay format to submit to the foundation. He was among 150 candidates who were selected to visit UNC for three days to go through three more interviews primarily based upon his answers to the essays.
“It was fun,” said Nemeyer. “I actually enjoyed it more than other scholarship interviews in that it was challenging.”
He was also offered the George Washington Honor Scholar, the Vanderbilt Academic Achievement Scholar and was a finalist for the Robertson Scholarship and the National Merit. But Nemeyer said he chose the Morehead scholarship because it offers more programs with more variety.
While many students would have to spend all their free time studying in order to achieve high GPAs and 2,320 SAT scores (the equivalent of a 1,560 out of 1,600 on the old scale), Nemeyer said he doesn’t like doing homework.
“It’s the devil,” he said, adding he did finish his homework after school every day.
“I feel weird giving this interview thinking that there are people who are far more qualified than I am,” he said. “After seeing the people I was up against, I was like there is no way I am going to get this.”
But the Morehead Foundation doesn’t just look for candidates with excellent scores, but someone who meets four criteria: leadership, scholarship, moral force of character and physical vigor. One look at Nemeyer’s two-page resume (yes, he already has a resume) proves that he’s being modest.
Nemeyer is passionate about cross country and track — he’s the school’s record holder in the 5K run. He was named to the All-District, All-Region and All-State cross-country teams.
“I don’t like being second class at anything,” he said.
He is also in the National Honor Society, National Spanish Honor Society, Youth Leadership Jacksonville, Joe Berg Society, and Junior Engineering and Technical Society — just to name a few. Though Nemeyer said receiving the Morehead scholarship is an honor, his greatest achievement was his final Eagle Scout project during which he spent a year building osprey and eagle aeries.
“I wanted to do something that was in construction so people could point to it and see it,” he said.
Nemeyer does enjoy building things but said he will probably major in biology and business when he attends UNC because both offer “more than one way to answer questions to new challenges all the time.”
He said he’s also excited about experiencing a different climate, but he will miss his friends and most of all his parents — his hunting, fishing, pool and arm wrestling partners.