We were thrilled to be joined by 6 of the 9 students who were each awarded $1,000 scholarships by our club. The students told us about their future plans. David Amodei will be attending Cuesta before transferring to a 4 year university in pursuit of a BS in Business/ Hospitality Management; Fiona Cloward will be attending UC Davis where she has not yet declared but said her goal is to help people; Angelique Gutierrez will be going to Cal Poly to study Ag Science; Alondra Mercado will be at Fresno State studying Sociology. Julian Crocker told us that Alondra was also the recipient of the Richard J. Weyhrich Leadership Scholarship given to students who demonstrate exceptional leadership potential; Emma Sison will attend UC Davis studying Animal Science with an eye on Veterinary Medicine; and, Julie Vazquez plans to take a gap year to spend a year in Bosnia living with a Muslim Family to better understand their traditions (depending on the status of COVID-19). She then plans to attend UC Riverside majoring in Global Studies. Julie spend part of her junior year in Japan as an exchange student and now speaks Japanese! Additional scholarship recipients, Ellie Kennedy, Riley Volz and Luis Mercado were not able to attend our meeting.
As Principal Scott Ferguson said, “We can’t wait to see where life takes you”. Counselor Mary Stenbeck, who previously taught most of these students in 7th grade, tearfully told them how proud she was of them. Justin Gish, who taught many of them in 4th grade, told them he was amazed at what they have accomplished. Cynthia Woodruff-Neer explained the Rotary Wheel to the students and reminded them to be a “cog”.
In case you have any doubt that small schools like Coast can provide a first-class education, these students will prove you wrong. We wish them all the best.