Letters from Our Scholars
Susanne Norgard, Executive Director, writes in the Ukiah Daily Journal about people and organizations improving lives in our community.
Pictured below, Megan Allende, Scholarship Coordinator.
It was just a little over a year ago that the Community Foundation scholarship committees interviewed promising students who were preparing to go to college. Although the students were all different, they shared a sense of eagerness and anticipation as they got ready to leave high school and the world they had known, and enter into new surroundings. So, as the Community Foundation prepares to review this year’s applicants, I checked in with Scholarship Coordinator Megan Allende to see how last year’s students are doing. The first thing that you learn from reading the letters of students is that they are busy! In addition to finding out what it is like to live up to high academic expectations, many are also participating in extracurricular activities on campus or exploring their new communities. The class work for many of the scholars seems daunting. Reid, who received a Mendosa scholarship, is taking an eclectic mix of classes that include cognitive psychology, object–oriented systems design, discrete structures (a mathematics and symbols course), a course on sleep and dreams, and an introduction to the martial arts (whew!).
Susanne Norgard, Executive Director, writes in the Ukiah Daily Journal about people and organizations improving lives in our community.
Pictured below, Megan Allende, Scholarship Coordinator.
It was just a little over a year ago that the Community Foundation scholarship committees interviewed promising students who were preparing to go to college. Although the students were all different, they shared a sense of eagerness and anticipation as they got ready to leave high school and the world they had known, and enter into new surroundings. So, as the Community Foundation prepares to review this year’s applicants, I checked in with Scholarship Coordinator Megan Allende to see how last year’s students are doing.
The first thing that you learn from reading the letters of students is that they are busy! In addition to finding out what it is like to live up to high academic expectations, many are also participating in extracurricular activities on campus or exploring their new communities.
The class work for many of the scholars seems daunting. Reid, who received a Mendosa scholarship, is taking an eclectic mix of classes that include cognitive psychology, object–oriented systems design, discrete structures (a mathematics and symbols course), a course on sleep and dreams, and an introduction to the martial arts (whew!).
Of course it is not all work. Phillip, the recipient of a Mendosa Scholarship who is attending the
Of course, the students take some of their home town values and experiences with them to college. Taylor, who received scholarships from both the Talamo and Petitte Funds, is trying to be selected as a student volunteer for the Corvallis Fire Department, and has asked his family to ship his fire gear up to him. He will return home in June to continue his work for CAL-FIRE.
Funding scholarship programs can be a very personal and rewarding way of “giving back” for donors who appreciate the satisfaction of hearing from the recipients and seeing how their scholarships are making a difference in young lives. Two new Community Foundation scholarship funds have been added this year: the Jerry Juhl Fund for the Arts which will award a scholarship for the performing arts to a student from the Mendocino/Fort Bragg area, and the Jonathan Family Scholarship which will be awarded in Laytonville. If you are interested in finding out more about the scholarships offered through the Community Foundation, you can find descriptions on the website (www.communityfound.org).
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