Area students earn scholarships
The Liberty Lake Centennial Rotary Club has announced its 2007 scholarship winners for the essay contest based on the Leadership Summit on Ethics that was held in October. Winners were required to be seniors in high school, have attended the summit, and answer the five essay questions on the scholarship application.
Emmily Eisenrich of Lewis and Clark was awarded the grand prize and a $5,000 scholarship. She plans to attend Whitworth next year.
First runner-up honors and $2,500 went to Theodore Newell, also of Lewis and Clark, and Brittney Gerard of University. Newell will attend the University of Washington next year, and Gerard will be at Eastern.
Second runners-up were Nick Johnson of Coeur d’Alene Academy, Hannah Murphy of the Mead Education Partnership Program, who will attend Whitworth next year, and Amanda Tilley of North Central, who will continue in the Running Start program at Eastern next year. All received $1,000.
Third runner-up was Angela Tilley, twin sister of Amanda, who will also continue in the Running Start program at Eastern next year. She received $500.
The Leadership Summit, which was held Oct. 7 at Gonzaga University, included four basic seminars along with several smaller break-out sessions. Topics included Courage, Conduct and Character; Friends and Decision Making and Lessons Learned. These topics were discussed in groups by the participants of the summit and by several guest speakers.
Scholarship essay questions included topics raised at the Leadership Summit, such as life lessons, and such broad questions as “Who are you and what do you represent?”
In one of his essay responses, Newell stated that “The verification of my ethical principles was the most valuable thing I learned from this summit.” This demonstrates the summit’s goal of enforcing strong values in its participants and of strengthening positive character traits already present.
Gerard, when answering an essay prompt about what she learned at the summit, said that the summit helped her learn to “listen to, love and grow from everyone I meet.”
Ron Schutz, co-founder of the program with David Kaplan and one of the judges for the awards, said that this learning to understand other individuals is “one of the underlying themes of the conference.”
One of the main motives for putting together the Leadership Summit and subsequent scholarship program hinged on the founding principle of the Rotary: promoting high ethical standards. This moral integrity is evident in the winning essays.
Scholarship winners were presented with their prize monies at the Rotary luncheon meeting June 14.
Friends of Pavillion Park
Friends of Pavillion Park, a nonprofit organization in the Liberty Lake community, announced the recipients of this year’s scholarship awards. This is the fifth year of the scholarship program, which recognizes local students who have demonstrated an eagerness to excel in post-high school endeavors while being committed to enhancing the Liberty Lake community.
Two service scholarships were also awarded for volunteer efforts at Pavillion Park or FOPP activities and outstanding community service.
Dustin Van Orman of Central Valley received both the President’s Award for volunteer efforts at Pavillion Park and the Schneidmiller Spirit of Community Service Award for outstanding service to community and humanity. He plans to attend Seattle Pacific University next year, and will receive $500 for each award.
General scholarships of $500 were awarded to Kimberly Gering, who planned to attend Washington State University next year; Austin Long, who planned to go to Eastern Washington University; Suzanne Miller, who planned to attend the University of Washington; and Hannah Dexter, who planned to go to John Brown University. All are Central Valley graduates.
Award winners will be recognized at the Liberty Lake Fourth of July concert at Pavillion Park.