Ayanna El, Bridgehampton Valedictorian, Wins Amy F. Wahl Memorial Scholarship From Hampton Library

Ayanna El, the valedictorian of the Bridgehampton High School Class of 2022, was presented with the Amy F. Wahl Memorial Scholarship by the Hampton Library on July 20.

El plans to attend the State University of New York at Albany this fall, where she will study psychology.

The $1,000 annual scholarship was established by the library to honor the memory of Wahl, who was the popular head of young adult services until her death, from cancer, in January 2018.

Members of El’s family as well as Wahl’s gathered with library staff and board members on the back lawn for an impromptu reception.

Wahl’s older sister, Heather DeSanto, said her sister had dedicated herself to her work as youth librarian at the Hampton Library.

“Growing community, encouraging inclusion and diversity, and serving youth was Amy’s heart,” she said. “She would have loved this.”

Among those in the audience was Wahl’s first-grade teacher, Bonnie Clavin, who came out from Medford, where Wahl also lived, for the event. She shared a letter she had received from Wahl in 2010 after she returned to college to study library science. “For the record,” her former student wrote, “not a day goes by in my academic career that I don’t think about you. Your encouragement helped me going all through school and I will never forget it.”

To receive the award, applicants had to pretend they were required to order three books for the library’s shelves, a humorous one, a scary one, and a classic. El chose “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” for her humorous entry, “Coraline” by Neil Gaiman for her scary book, and Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” for her classic.