One hundred and thirty graduating seniors from Culver City High School and Culver Park High School received scholarships totaling $158,000 at the Culver City Community Scholarship Fund awards night, at the Robert Frost Auditorium.
The auditorium was packed with relatives and friends who cheered as each recipient was announced. Students were told they would be receiving a scholarship. Butthey did not learn its identity until the night of the event last week.
Event organizers paid tribute to Scholarship Fund board member Letha Kemper who recently retired after serving for 24 years.
A native Californian, Ms. Kemper has lived in Culver City for 46 years. Her support of graduates who want to pursue further education stems from her own experience. She was the first of her family to graduate from college, graduating from UCLA in 1959.
All three of her children benefitted from the Culver City Community Scholarship program. Ms. Kemper has always supported the youth of the community through PTA, Boy Scouts, Girl Scout, Little League, Culver City athletics, drill team and American Field Service.
Donors to the Scholarship Fund include a variety of service clubs, businesses, parent organizations such as PTA, and employee organizations from the School District and the city, as well as individual and memorial scholarships. Donors selected their recipients in May according to their own criteria, which may include academic status, financial need, career goals, or Culver City schools attended.
The Culver City Scholarship Fund is a nonprofit organization administered by a group of community volunteers who meet monthly from November to June.
There are two ways to donate to the fund. An individual, organization, service club or business can create a named scholarship in the amount of at least $500 and then a representative will select their recipient from among the applicants. In addition, the Scholarship Fund accepts donations of any amount for the Bettylyle Westbrook Spirit Awards. All donations are fully tax deductible.
For direct donations, checks should be made out to Culver City Community Scholarship Fund and sent to Culver City High School, 4401 Elenda St., Culver City, CA 90230, attention Margaret Fujisawa, College Career Center, or you may make a secure donation at the Fund’s website, www.cccommunityscholarships.org. If you wish to set up a new named scholarship for 2017, contact Ms. Fujisawa at 310.842.4200, extension 3558.
The following is the complete list of scholarships and recipients:
SCHOLARSHIPS
Kermit and Elinore Greene Endowment……………………………………………………………………..Najai Bell
Sydney Goldfarb High School Award……………………………………………………………………Michael Hale
Sony Pictures Entertainment Scholarship………………………………………………………………Flora Namala
Southern California Gas Company Scholarship…………………………………………………Papawee Sutthirat
Playa Venice Sunrise Rotary Club Tom Ryan Honorary Scholarship…………………….………..Lillian Gardner
Culver City Education Foundation Otice “Red” Gallman Scholarship………………………………Alma Alvarado
Centaur In Action Civic Engagement Scholarship……………………………………………………….Erick Perez
Balfour Beatty Construction/Sharefest Scholarship……………………………………………………..Jacob Sofer
CULVER CITY COMMUNITY SCHOLARSHIPS
Culver City Schools & Associations Scholarships
Assn. of Classified Employees – Culver City………….…Mikaela Barocio, Sarah Paris and Adam Wong
Culver City Council PTA……………………………………………….Arantxa Abraham-Davila and Tzu Ning Hsu
Culver City Federation of Teachers Culver City Local 1343 A.F.T…….…………………………..Isabel Villarreal
Culver City and Culver Park High School PTSA…………………….…Alejandra Diaz, Esmeralda Luis Arteaga,
Shawnah McFarlane and Peter Tran
Culver City High School Alumni Ass.…………….…………….……..Orlando Valle and Daisy Velasquez
Culver City High School Booster Club……………………….………..……Isaiah Benson and Melody Rodriguez
Culver City Middle School PTSA………………………………………………………………………Laksmita Candrisari
El Marino Language School PTA…………….…Maarten Hesseling, Alyssa Huang, and Shelby Miyamoto-Kim
El Rincon PTA……………………………………………………………….……………Imani Belll and Nia Williams
Farragut PTA……………………………………………………………….….……………….……………..Katelyn Ke
La Ballona PTA…………………….…………………….Viridiana Hernandez-Lopez and Daisy Mendez Gutierrez
Lin. Howe PTA…………………………………….………….…….……….Cecilia Andrade and Daniel Rea
Management Assn. of Culver City Schools………….…………………..…Andrea Arias and Kathryn Perry
Panther Partners of Culver City Middle School……………………………Christian Brodnax and Ariana Pacino
Business Scholarships
Culver City Chamber of Commerce……………………………………………………………………Alexia Clayton
Goldrich & Kest Management…………………………………………………………………………..Noah Brunson
HeArt Realtors Community Service Scholarship……………………………..Dylan Blaisdell and Jonathan Soto
Individual and Memorial Scholarships
Alex Smollins Great Heart Award………………………………………………………………………Natalia Caldas
Ami Shilton Memorial Scholarship……………….………………………..Amber Kennedy and Mayda Yohannes
Armond Fields Memorial Scholarship………………………….……………….………………………Raegan Harris
Barry & Valerie Sulkin Scholarship……………..…………Tahje Beck, Najai Bell, Sabrina Perez, Gisel Ruezga,
Pornphan Sriwattananon and AsajanThiticharoen
Ace Dyess Memorial Scholarship……………………………………………Natasha Bradley and Brianna Quiane
Myers Family Scholarship……………………………………………Vanessa Givens and Antonio Santos-Alonso
Bauer Family Scholarship……………………………………………………………….………….…..…Kailey Tooke
Meyer Frinkess Memorial Scholarship………………………………………………………………….Naomi Choice
Bechtloff Family Scholarship…………………………………………………………………….….……Niko Vlahakis
Ben Dudley Memorial Scholarship……………………………………………………………………………Michael Netzel
The CCC Success Scholarship…………………………………………………………………….Adriana Gasaway
Dave Sanchez Memorial Scholarship………………………………………..………………….……Michael Godoy
Dennis Hiserodt Scholarship…………………………………………………………………………….Anand Payton
Diligence Scholarship……………………………….Alma Alvarado, Emily Cadena and Daniela Hernani Novoa
Estelle Langholz and Lisette Pulc Scholarship……….…………………Kaelyn Gsellman and Thomas Johnson
Fine Arts Scholarship………………………………..…….…………………Matthew Mercaldo and Joanna Smith
Green5 Scholarship……………………………………………………………………………………….Justin Shump
Kimberlyn Blue Ribbon Science Scholarship…………….…………………………….…………………Erick Perez
Leighton Family Scholarship……………………………….……………………………………Caitlyn Roseborough
Lillian Thomey Memorial Scholarship……………………..……………………………………………..Alex Furtado
Nancy Yeung Scholarship…………………………………………………………..Ava Derevlany and Alex Zelaya
Nic Martinek Scholarship for Creativity in the Artz, Math and Computer Scholarship………..Amanda Mondelo
and Michelle Mondelo
Pyenson Family Scholarship Achievement in Math………………….…………Justin Parker, Papawee Sutthirat
and Abraham Vazquez
Rick Plasse Memorial Scholarship…………………………………………………………………………Bianca Jimenez
Robin Turner Science Scholarship……………………………………………………….….………..Priyanka Desai
Anita Shapiro Memorial Scholarship……………………………………………………….……………..Sol Mendez
Pamela & Morris Marmon Memorial Scholarship…………………………………………………Avishai Melamed
Sam & Jeanette Carl Memorial Arts Scholarship……………….…..…….……………………….Alejandro Cerutti
Tommy A. Davis Scholarship of Excellence……………………………….……..…………………Autumn Walters
Trudy and Harold Cherness Scholarship………………………………………………………..…Sadushi De Silva
Vicki J. Forman Learning Prize………………………………………………………………………Orane Heuveline
Vicki J. Forman Writing Prize…………………………………………………………..…Natalia Monroy-Jogestedt
Victor & Geraldine Terry Scholarship………………………………………………………………….Lillian Gardner
William & Nancy Robertson Memorial Scholarship………….……………………………………………Jaida Reid
Zager Family Scholarship………………………………………….………………………………..….Tristan Quiane
Service Club Scholarships
Advocates for Language Learning, El Marino……………………………………….….Isabella Browning-Perdomo
Beacon of Light/Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc./Theta Epsilon Sigma Chapter……….…….…….Megan King
Culver City Employees Assn.………………………………………….…Brett Nava and Cedrinae Thompson
Culver City Exchange Club Memorial Scholarship……………….Michelle Akamine, Lily Bautista, Reno Behnken,
Jonathan Cummings, Eva Fiallos, Ana Garcia-Lima, Maraisa Glass, Joseph Kim,
Jessica Lopez, Tyler MacIntosh, Alison Metzinger, Flora Namala, Anthony Overton,
Kori Ridenour, Angela Uribe, Ava Walderman, Jacob Weiner and Carli Zimelman
Culver City Management Group…………………………Kiersten Blake, Anabel Cardenas and Nathaly Pacheco
Culver City Rotary Club Scholarship…………………………………………………………………Dominique Powell
Culver City Rotary-Chabola Scholarship…………………………………………………………….Anthony Jaramillo
Culver City Sister City Committee……………………….……………………………………………….Natasha Collier
Culver City Woman’s Club……………………Jasmine McDonald, Aasiya Syed and Elizabeth Williams Johnson
Friends of the Sandy Segal Youth Health Center Elaine Little and Ann Alexander Memorial………………………
Randy Lazaro and Ailene Summers
Gamma Iota Future Educator Scholarship……………………………………………………………….Adriana Romero
Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter #526 West Los Angeles…………………………………Lindsay Vosburgh
Bettelyle Westbrook Spirit Award…………………………Cynthia Arteaga, Ahmanah Castlin, Nataly Guerrero, Lillyana Padilla and Kate Suyetsugu
Ms. Fields may be contacted at sarafields@sbcglobal.net
