Ms Senior California 2025 Holli Kenley Honors A Former Student - David Joseph Miller

Ms Senior America 2025 Community Service Award Essay

 David Miller Memorial Scholarship

Holli Kenley – Ms. California Senior America 2025


In my first career I was a teacher, first at middle school and then at high school level. Although I met hundreds of amazing students and had the privilege of teaching many of them, there was one student - David Miller - who caught my eye at first glance.  During the two years I taught David in a discussion-based philosophy class - Theory of Knowledge - I got to know him well. More importantly, I witnessed how other students, friends, and faculty were also captivated by David. It was not only his thirst for knowledge and his voracious zest for accomplishment, but it was the honest manner in which he pursued his passions and his purposes. It was his beaming smile and his tender heart. It was his immeasurable capacity to be and possess all that is good in life.


What I learned several years after David’s graduation from high school in 2005 was his goodness was no accident. At a very young age, David chose to walk a path of respect, honor, personal integrity, self-accountability, and truth. It is believed at around age 18, David articulated his philosophy of conduct in the form of a hand-written 5 Point Personal Code which was found among his writings in his college dorm room, after his untimely death in 2009.


Daivd Joseph Miller 
Graduate La Quinta High School, La Quinta, CA
 International Baccalaureate Diploma 2005

At David’s memorial service, his Rabbi challenged the audience to find ways to honor David and to share his 5 Point Personal Code of Conduct with other students and adults. In 2010, several teacher colleagues and I organized an evening celebrating David’s life. With family members and community in attendance, we launched the David Miller Memorial Scholarship at La Quinta International Baccalaureate High School, La Quinta, CA. Enough funds were raised to award a yearly scholarship for a deserving a high school student from 2010 -2013.

In addition, I submitted David’s code for publication in a volume of Recovering the Self – A Journal of Hope and Healing (Loving Healing Press, Inc.) I also wove David’s powerful messages into my novel for adolescents and teens entitled “Another Way” (Loving Healing Press, Inc. 2015). And whenever I am speaking to young people about how to live their lives deliberately and purposely by discovering, defining, and determining the Power of Their Worth, I integrate David’s Personal Code of Conduct.

 David Miller’s 5 Point Personal Code of Conduct

#1- ENJOY, PERSEVERE, and PERSUE your individual freedoms.

#2- Shoot straight and speak the TRUTH. HONESTY and PERSONAL INTEGRITY must be upheld.

#3- Sleep in the bed YOU make for yourself. ACTIONS have CONSEQUENCES; DEAL WITH IT.

#4 – Play the HAND YOU ARE DEALT. Make the most of any situation with HONOR.

#5 – Pick your OWN PATH, and stay between the ditches. BE WHO YOU WANT TO BE, and BE THE BEST YOU CAN BE AT IT.




What takes most of us a lifetime to understand, David Miller was able to grasp at a young age. He understood by cultivating what was important to him and by valuing himself, he nourished and fortified his character and being. In doing so, David was able to stand strong against social pressures and negative influences, remaining true to who he was. And incredibly, David understood by living out his truths, he gave reason for others to do the same.

Since 2013, my husband and I have funded David Miller’s Memorial Scholarship. And every year, a graduating senior is awarded a scholarship in David’s name. If I were to win the Community Service Award, I would proudly present the funds to La Quinta High School in David’s honor.



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