Rotary Club of Kirkland awards seven scholarships

Published 2:44 pm Wednesday, May 9, 2012

The Rotary Club of Kirkland held its Annual Scholarship Night celebration in April at The Woodmark Hotel.

This year, seven scholarships of $1,000 were awarded to students of five schools, including Cascadia Community College, International Community School, Juanita High School, Lake Washington High School and Lake Washington Technical Academy. Parents of the recipients as well as school counselors also attended.

The evening began with a brief presentation by a returning Rotary ambassadorial scholar, Sten Sifuentes. Steven, a Naval Academy grad, gave a report of the benefits of that experience in London the last 10 months studying military history.

This year’s scholarship recipients were: Zachary Shucklin from International Community School; Joel Pasek and Lainey Carlson from Lake Washington Technical Academy; Evan Ellefsen from Juanita High School; Jasmin Du and Itzel Santiago from Lake Washington High School; and, Amanda Walker from Cascadia Community College.

Scholarships are awarded after the student’s applications are reviewed and each student is interviewed.

Grades, school activities, and community service are among the criteria used to determine scholarship awards.

The celebration completes about six months of work for the committee including Eric Olsen, Brian Tucker, Anne Hamilton, Vickie Cooley, JoAnne Burns and Brandon Honcoop. The committee members extend their thanks to the counselors at each of the schools for their assistance and dedication to the all of the students who applied.

Scholarships are funded by the community’s support for The Rotary Club of Kirkland’s Great Puget Sound Duck Race to be held on Aug. 11.