Recent Brien McMahon High School graduate Ryan Turnbull has been named the recipients of the 2025 Chelsea Cohen Memorial Scholarship. The award, presented by The Fairfield County Sports Hall of Fame & Youth Foundation, recognizes a female scholar/athlete who is a graduating senior from Norwalk’s high schools. The scholarship is awarded to the candidate that best exemplifies the spirit and qualities of the late Chelsea Cohen, a graduate of NHS who passed away after a long bout with cancer in 2006 and whose name is also memorialized through an annual Courage Award.
Recent Brien McMahon High School graduate Ryan Turnbull has been named the recipients of the 2025 Chelsea Cohen Memorial Scholarship. The award, presented by The Fairfield County Sports Hall of Fame & Youth Foundation, recognizes a female scholar/athlete who is a graduating senior from Norwalk’s high schools. The scholarship is awarded to the candidate that best exemplifies the spirit and qualities of the late Chelsea Cohen, a graduate of NHS who passed away after a long bout with cancer in 2006 and whose name is also memorialized through an annual Courage Award.
Recent Brien McMahon High School graduate Ryan Turnbull has been named the recipients of the 2025 Chelsea Cohen Memorial Scholarship. The award, presented by The Fairfield County Sports Hall of Fame & Youth Foundation, recognizes a female scholar/athlete who is a graduating senior from Norwalk’s high schools. The scholarship is awarded to the candidate that best exemplifies the spirit and qualities of the late Chelsea Cohen, a graduate of NHS who passed away after a long bout with cancer in 2006 and whose name is also memorialized through an annual Courage Award.
Recent Brien McMahon High School graduate Ryan Turnbull has been named the the recipient of the 2025 Chelsea Cohen Memorial Scholarship by The Fairfield County Sports Hall of Fame & Youth Foundation.
The award recognizes a female scholar/athlete who is a graduating senior from Norwalk’s high schools with financial support toward higher education. Turnbull will receive a $5,000 grant for her college freshman year this fall at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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The scholarship is awarded to the candidate that best exemplifies the spirit and qualities of the late Chelsea Cohen, a graduate of Norwalk High School who passed away after a long bout with cancer in 2006 and whose name is also memorialized through an annual Courage Award. Criteria for nomination includes academic honors, participation in one or more varsity level sports, community service and displaying high levels of sportsmanship, leadership and character.
Started in 2017, in the eight years of presenting the scholarship, FCSHOFYF has now distributed a total of $41,000 to the 11 recipients. No award was granted in 2023.
“The selection process for the Chelsea Cohen Memorial Scholarship is always challenging as the candidates applying are immensely qualified and accomplished young women,“ said Chelsea’s mother Barbara Rittner. “This year’s winner, Ryan Turnbull is a stellar student, captain of the McMahon varsity lacrosse and volleyball teams, winner of multiple MVP awards, a community service leader and an inspiration to her classmates and the young people she mentors and coaches. We wish her every success as she enters the University of Wisconsin to pursue her goals as an educator.”
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Turnbull, who graduated with a 3.93 grade point average and was a National Honor Society selection with a weighted GPA of 4.45, plans to major in Elementary Education. Ryan played 4 years with both the varsity lacrosse and volleyball teams. She captained both squads and will try and continue her athletic career with the Wisconsin club volleyball team.
Turnbull has a long and varied list of community service and club activities that she devotes time to helping others and sharing her leadership skills. In her 4 years at McMahon, she was able to balance high-level academics with athletics and leadership roles in over 200-plus hours of giving back to her hometown.
An initiative she founded and was the president of called Feeding 500 Chapter was her primary civic duty responsibility in leading the fundraising for the charity that benefited food drives for the Open Doors shelter. She also found enjoyment with mentoring and youth coaching opportunities. Ryan was a mentor/coach for the Unified Sports program that works closely with athletes with cognitive, physical and emotional challenges. One other area she led as the president was McMahon’s Environmental Cleanup Club.
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