FARMINGTON HILLS >> Evans Scholars Jacob Melvin of St. Clair Shores and Michigan State University, and Alexander Karhunen of Jenison and the University of Michigan are the 2025 winners of the James D. Standish Award.

The award is presented each year to an outstanding Evans Scholar at the Michigan State and Michigan chapters. The Executive Committee of the Golf Association of Michigan established the award in 1968, a year after the passing of James D. Standish, a former champion golfer, GAM and USGA president who helped Chick Evans of the Western Golf Association start the renown caddie scholarship program.

Melvin, a St. Clair Shores Lakeview grad who will graduate this spring with a finance degree from Michigan State, caddies at the Lochmoor Club in Grosse Pointe Woods, and Karhunen, graduating from Michigan in economics, has attended Camp Sankaty and caddied during each of the last five summers at Sankaty Head Golf Club in Massachusetts.

The Standish Award winners are selected for having demonstrated scholarship and leadership in their Evans Scholar chapter’s affairs. A permanent plaque that includes the inscribed names of each year’s winners is displayed in the lounge of each campus Evans Scholarship house, and each winner is presented with a replica of the plaque. The GAM will bestow the awards at its spring annual meeting.

Melvin, 22, will start his professional career in retirement and wealth management consulting with Hub International after graduation. He said winning the Standish Award is the result of the programs and people who have helped shape him.

“Being a caddie and an Evans Scholar has given me such a unique and wonderful experience, a community, a support system, a chance to work with inspiring individuals and this award reflects on all the people who helped me along the way,” he said. “I don’t think college would have happened without the Evans Scholarship and that wouldn’t have happened without Lochmoor.”

While at Michigan State, Melvin was elected president of the Chapter, volunteered for the Evans Scholar blood drive, and worked with Andrew Hopper Pavlik PLC during each tax season.

“Leadership, solving issues, I learned so much from the other scholars that will help me in my career,” he said.

Melvin said since he was 16 and went to work for an older brother in landscaping he has been inspired by working in the business field.

“I started learning there and then being a caddie taught me the soft skills, the kind of things that will help me in wealth management, working one-on-one with a person, sharing knowledge, interacting,” he said. “Being a caddie is one of the best ways to learn those soft skills. You must work with somebody all day and the people you meet teach you with the way they treat you.”

He said his experience at Lochmoor was enjoyable on many levels, and he has since recommended being a caddie to younger relatives and others.

“I just fell in love with being outside, meeting amazing people,” he said. “I can’t think of a better job for a young person.”

Karhunen, 22, is planning a business career and has a passion for data analysis. He called the Standish Award a great honor.

“I look at the people I know who received this honor before and I’m honored and humbled to be among them,” he said. “I’ve been humbled so much just to be at Michigan with the other Evans Scholars and I’m so proud to have served the chapter and even be considered in this way.”

While at Michigan, Karhunen was elected president of the chapter and was an active member and vice president of the Propel Impact Consulting Group, a social impact consulting and entrepreneurship club.

“The Evans Scholarship Program always meant a good future to me, and I’ve seen it as an opportunity,” he said. “I feel incredibly fortunate to have the scholarship. It changed my life in so many ways, and I couldn’t be happier to share with everybody at Michigan. Michigan is full of bright, compassionate people and I know the Evans Scholarship house is home to the best of the best.”

Karhunen started in golf with the First Tee program of West Michigan, and it was there he was introduced to being a caddie and the Evans Scholarship program.

“I was so fortunate to get into golf through First Tee, then get accepted at Camp Sankaty and then the Evans Scholarship became the goal I wanted to achieve,” he said.

“First Tee, Camp Sankaty, the Evans House at Michigan, it’s been a great journey and has prepared me for my future.”