The Rotary Club of Kirkland is pleased to announce the award of twelve scholarships to students attending Emerson High School, Juanita High School, Lake Washington High School, and Lake Washington Institute of Technology. The scholarships awards, totaling $14,000 were either $1,000 or $1,500.
The Rotary Club had planned to award scholarships totaling $20,000 for this year, an increase of 100 percent over 2019. However, a lack of qualified applications left four scholarships, ranging from $1,000 - $3,000 each, not awarded. They will be held over for the 2021 scholarship cycle.
The 2020 scholarship award recipients are:
Caroline Hahn | Emerson H.S. | Rotary Education Scholarship | $1,500 |
| Emily Le | Juanita H.S. | Rotary Diversity Leadership Scholarship | $1,500 |
| Erik Odderson | Juanita H.S. | Rotary Scholarship | $1,000 |
| Caroline Squires | Juanita H.S. | Rotary Scholarship | $1,000 |
| Megan Wong | Juanita H.S. | Rotary Scholarship | $1,000 |
| Grace Zackula | Juanita H.S. | Rotary Scholarship | $1,000 |
| Colton Bailey | Lake Washington H.S. | Rotary Scholarship | $1,000 |
| Karla Pastrana | Lake Washington H.S. | Rotary Step Scholarship | $1,500 |
| Haylee Vanderstelt | Lake Washington H.S. | Rotary Scholarship | $1,000 |
| Tiffany Zang | Lake Washington H.S. | Rotary Diversity Leadership Scholarship | $1,500 |
| Michelle Benisti | Lake Wash. Inst. of Tech. | Rotary Scholarship | $1,000 |
| Alisa Bright | Lake Wash. Inst. of Tech. | Rotary Scholarship | $1,000 |
For all of the scholarships, students must demonstrate financial need, academic promise, a record of school or community service, the promise of future societal contribution, and in most instances, plan to attend an accredited higher education institution in Washington State. Certain scholarships require plans in specific areas of higher education, such as communications, technical education, and business and accounting.
Funds for the ten Rotary Scholarships are raised through sales of Duck Dash tickets and race sponsorships, an annual community fund raising project of the Rotary Club. The other ten were funded by donations from members of the Rotary Club and their businesses. The scholarship program is a prime example of the Duck Dash and Rotary fund-raising efforts contributing to the growth of the Kirkland community.
“Supporting our community’s youth people is one of the major purposes of Rotary,” explains James Nevers, incoming Rotary president and chair of last year’s Duck Dash. “The Rotary scholarship program is a signature program of the Rotary Club of Kirkland aimed at assisting young people in our community.”
Duck Dash “Head Duck” Patti Smith notes that, “In addition to scholarships, the Duck Dash also helps fund projects like Kirkland Nourishing Networks, Miracle League, Coats for Kids, Harvest Against Hunger foodbank, scholarships, Hopelink, Kids Holiday Party and other community, vocational, and international service projects.”