Karina Harriman of Freeport High School was one of four students honored with scholarships from Mainely Character.

Harriman, who received a $2,500 Mainely Character Scholarship, spent time in a women’s shelter with her mother and impressed judges with “her sense of responsibility and her resolve to give back and help others.”

Harriman gave up sports to work — a decision she described as “devastating” because of her love of sports but one that demonstrated her understanding the difference between wants and needs, she said in a news release.

Harriman also demonstrated a drive to protect others by first confronting an alleged abuser, and, later, while working at a nursing home, reporting a staff member who she felt was neglecting duties and putting patients at risk.

Harriman has fond memories of a camp she attended as a child, and became a counselor because she felt it was “time to give back.” She plans to study nursing at Eastern Maine Community College.

MainelyCharacter was established in 2000 to provide scholarships to Maine high school seniors who have demonstrated a steadfast commitment to the principles of courage, integrity, responsibility and concern for others.