The Atticus Anderson Award for Service and Scholarship

by Taylor Vincent

I hereby nominate Travis Bickle Stiles for Wilson High School’s Atticus Anderson Award for

Service and Scholarship.

I have known Travis Stiles since first grade, and personally seen God do everything he can to

smother this individual.

Travis was born on August 13, 1991, to Steve and Cora Stiles. They had been married for

nineteen days. Twelve days later, during the divorce proceedings, the judge ruled that tying Cora

Stiles to Steve via monetary payments – she was the breadwinner, after all – would be, “a violation of

her inalienable right to pursue happiness,” and so she was not required to pay child support. She has

since vanished from Travis’s life.

In second grade, when art teacher Mrs. May Williams noticed Travis’s affinity for the visual

arts and his skills with watercolors, his father put him to work helping paint the house. The task was

never completed, and the house remains two colors to this day.

In third grade, in an effort to sharpen Travis’s cursive handwriting abilities, his father began a

letter correspondence between Travis and an old friend of his father’s. While I have seen the letters,

and they are friendly and innocent, the correspondence ended when the warden of the Columbia

Correctional Institution heard about the unauthorized contact between this specific prisoner and

someone not of consenting age.

In fourth grade, following a school assembly and program on the subject of diversity, Travis

stated, when asked for comment, that he hadn’t distrusted those of a different skin color of his own

until now; hearing that this was such a significant problem as to warrant an assembly, he was now
suspicious of non-whites. His father was immediately brought in for a talk; the record states that when

Mr. Markham informed Mr. Stiles of what his son had said, his father said, “Travis, you can’t talk bad

about coloreds in school like that.” No further action was taken on the subject.

Rest assured, Travis Stiles is not a racist. He’s not discriminatory in any sense. In the seventh

grade, when Jeremy Anderson (who would receive this very award a few years later) began reading

from an ancient textbook (an edition of which is still available in our high school library) regarding

scientific racism and its ‘proof’ of a Nordic racial superiority, Travis challenged him, stating the book

was out of date. Anderson then called Travis a “lanky little fag.” By the time teachers pried Travis

away from Jeremy the latter had a broken nose and was whimpering about a donation to the NAACP.

When questioned by school staff and police, he cited the speaker from the previously mentioned

fourth grade presentation: “Words can hurt like a fist.” Travis had merely responded in kind to

Jeremy’s very real attacks. Travis was suspended for a week.

In eighth grade, Travis made the regional semi-finals in the National Spelling Bee. He could

not afford travel; the school provided no transit. He did not continue.

Ten months ago, Travis was videotaped in an infamous argument in which he soundly

outwitted Wilson’s mayor, Norman Haroldson, in a discussion on the internet and free speech. Since

then, he has been pulled over by Wilson Police on twenty-seven occasions. On eight of these, he has

been cited for driving under the influence of alcohol with officers claiming he has failed a field

sobriety test. On none of these occasions has he been subjected to a breathalyzer or other blood alcohol

test. Each of these times, he has presented the video of the argument, shot by Brandon Cooper, as

evidence that he should be tried elsewhere. Each time he has been successful in having the trial moved

to Dane or Rock County. Each time, he has had all charges dropped.
 Despite interruptions like this, Travis Stiles is managing a 3.27 grade point average. His

favorite subject is history. He can tell you the details of the Smoot-Hawley act, the major players in the

Napoleonic wars, the history of Christmas beyond ‘when Jesus was born.’ However, the requirements

for the Atticus Anderson Award for Service and Scholarship require more than simple proficiency in

school. Service is present right in the title, and that’s what separates the recipients of these awards

from the rest of the student body. These are the students that have given the most back to the

community.

Travis’s volunteer service started with our participation from ages 8 to 14 as puppeteers for the

Wilson Public Library. The Wilson Puppet Players Theater, comprised of myself, Travis, and Elizabeth

Frank, gave nine performances over those six years, all of which were well received.

When the Pecatonica County Chapter of the United Way made news for withdrawing its

support for the Boy Scouts of America based on their positions on homosexuality, Travis enlisted the

two of us in supporting them, helping to raise funds after the Wilson Interfaith Church and

Congregation Association threatened a boycott. However, the boycott was successful, the head of the

Wilson United Way Chapter resigned, and Travis ceased all volunteer efforts for them.

In the time since, Travis and I have continued to raise money for the Wilson Public Library.

Beginning in 2008, Travis and I were instrumental in getting the University of Wisconsin Children’s

Hospital included in the Child’s Play program, which procures toys and games for children in need.

Beyond Travis’s strength in class and his contributions to the community, however, there is one

final piece in why he should receive the Anderson Award.

Travis is not the traditional face of the Anderson Award. In its 85 year history, this award has

been won by descendants of the Anderson family a staggering twenty times. Furthermore, I have
searched through the last ten years of recipients, and there are no mentions of any of the winners

having jobs outside of school and volunteer work. Simply put, these are moneyed individuals.

Travis Stiles is far from moneyed. The house, and I use the term loosely, owned by his father

has been so successful at lowering the property values around it that it’s a miracle no landlord has

taken him in for free to act as a tax dodge. The porch has collapsed, there are holes in the roof, and

there is severe water damage in the basement. A colony of ants, each the size of a dime, has staked out

their turf near the fallen tree in the backyard.

Travis’s father, Steve Stiles, is a seasonal employee at Holly Hayworth’s distribution center. The

paperwork surrounding his employment is shifted with a wink and a nudge so that he is listed as

terminated and rehired repeatedly that he may collect unemployment to feed his son. Travis himself

works nights and weekends at Cliff’s eatery. His job doesn’t buy him video games, it pays for generic

clothing from Wal-Mart, school supplies, and is often simply taken by his father to provide for the

latter’s alcoholism.

By awarding Travis Stiles the Atticus Anderson Award for Service and Scholarship, you, the

judges, have an opportunity to show what sort of an individual can come from adversity. You have the

opportunity to show that winners of this award needn’t have Anderson as a last name. Finally, you

have the opportunity to make the new face of the Atticus Anderson Award one of will and

determination, not simply that of a scion of a powerful family in Wilson.

The Atticus Anderson Award for Service and Scholarship by Taylor Vincent is licensed
under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States
License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://tpvincent.wordpress.com/.