Roan Hall, 16, of Chugiak, has become the first recipient of the AFS-Peter Larson Memorial Scholarship.

Hall was awarded the $1,000 grant by Flo Larson and met with her at Finn’s Pizza on Monday. The funds will help support a year living and studying in Steinkjer, Norway, as an AFS exchange student.

AFS established the memorial scholarship in Peter Larson’s name to honor his work for AFS, with Flo Larson helping to select scholarship recipients. The family also advised people wishing to make memorial donations to make them to organizations Larson supported, including AFS, Hospice of Homer, Rotary, Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies and the Kenai Peninsula Orchestra/Choir. The Larsons served as host parents to six AFS students from Chile, Indonesia, Japan, France and Italy and a Rotary student from Brazil. They also were hosts to a teacher from Thailand on an AFS educational exchange program.

The son of Melissa and Andy Hall, Roan Hall will study in Norway during his junior year. He competes on the Chugiak High School cross-country ski and track teams. The Halls have a setnet site in Kasilof, and Roan got the news of the scholarship when Flo Larson called him at fish camp. Larson selected him from Alaska AFS students accepted to study abroad and he hadn’t even known of the scholarship.

“That was completely out of the blue,” Hall said when he got the phone call with the news.

“‘Tusen takk,’” he said in Norwegian to Larson. “Thank you very much.”