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School to Community Connection |
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Issue 88 HHS scholarships are an opportunity for all students Healdsburg High School’s scholarship program reaches out to a variety of students planning to study everything from vocational, visual and performing arts, business, medicine, and education at a junior college, technical, trade school, or four-year college and university. The program mirrors the varied interests and capabilities of the HHS student body and is a reflection of our community’s wonderful support of Healdsburg students. So says Laurie Nimmo, the scholarship center coordinator whose job it is to oversee the application process. Last year the scholarship program awarded approximately $680,000 in scholarships, making it the largest such program at northern California public high schools. That figure does not include funding HHS students receive annually from state and federal grants such as Cal Grants, Pell and Governor’s scholarships, which has been estimated at about $200,000 annually. While four sizeable academic scholarships, along with the SRJC Doyle Scholarships, make up about 60% of the money awarded, there are local awards that make up the remaining 40%. The smaller local awards, totaling $150,000 last year, are the focus of this article. The second article in the series will be about the history of the scholarship program and its major scholarships. HHS has long given scholarships. The oldest continuing one, easily 50 years old, is the Dr. C.W. Weaver Memorial Scholarship. It is also the most prestigious because it is given to the student with the highest cumulative weighted GPA over four years. There are more than 100 local scholarships listed in the center’s High School Scholarship Handbook, a number that on average has increased by three each year. Scholarship amounts range from $100 up to $12,500. Some make annual awards and have done so for years. Others were established for a fixed period of years. While the criteria for scholarships often include high academic performance, students may also be selected for leadership activities, community service, citizenship, vocational interest, financial need, overcoming a learning disability or living in a certain part of the Healdsburg school district. Some criteria might surprise you. For example, The Redwood Empire Tall Club eligibility includes height - males must be at least 6’2” and women must be at least 5’10”. Criteria for most local scholarships reflect the interests of the organizations or individuals making the gifts. What follows is a sampling to give a sense of what is available. Healdsburg Advocates for Language Learners, for example, awards students who were enrolled in the bilingual immersion program. Scholarships from the Garden Club, Community Band, HHS French, Journalism, and Greyhound Boosters clubs, HATA (the teachers’ union), firefighters, and police officers organizations support students whose career or educational goals are similar to the members of the organization. Service organizations are a tremendous source of a variety of scholarships. Donors include Kiwanis, Lion’s Club, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Soroptimist International, Healdsburg Boys & Girls Club, Rotary, American Legion, and the Fraternal Order of Eagles. Students with agricultural or ranching interests are well served with awards from Alexander Valley and Dry Creek Farm Bureaus, Ladies Aid and Neighbor Associations, the Fair Board, and FFA. Businesses such as Silveira, Simi, and Russian River Wine Road also have established scholarships. There are at least 27 local scholarships that have been established in memory of family and community members. Recent scholarships, for example, memorialize HHS students Steve Hockert, Ben Black and Holly Kettman. Memorial scholarships also reflect the times during which they were established. For example, The Americo Rafanelli Memorial Scholarship is for a senior in FFA planning to attend a college or training program in agriculture. The Tom Phillips Memorial Scholarship was established in memory of a young man who was one of Healdsburg’s first casualties in the Vietnam War. Space does not allow listing and describing all people memorialized with scholarships but we hope they will be in future articles in this column and reports on the HUSD Web site. Herman Velasquez, a retired HHS counselor, has provided much of the historical information used in this series about the scholarship program. He hopes to make his research an ongoing project and to publish occasional stories about the people whose names are attached to our local scholarships. Readers who would like to share what they know about these same people may email their comments to communications@husd.com. Individuals and organizations interested in establishing a scholarship or providing additional funding for an existing one may contact Laurie Nimmo at the High School’s Career Center. A Brief History of the HHS Scholarship Program Healdsburg High School has been giving out both national and local scholarships for many years. During most of that time the head counselor and counseling staff took responsibility for the program. Occasionally there would be enough money to fund a scholarship technician to assist the counselors. Most notable in this category was Rene Kiff in the 1980s. Today the money to fund a scholarship coordinator is made possible by the McCord Scholarship, which made its first award in 1994. The first McCord scholarship coordinator was Stephanie Keeble. The hiring of a person dedicated to the program has resulted in an increase in scholarships given and awarded. Laurie Nimmo, the current coordinator, has been in her position for six years. In addition to scholarship administration she coordinates on-campus visits from representatives of colleges, vocational and technical schools, and maintains a clearinghouse of student job and summer educational opportunities. School programs like scholarship centers are threatened by budget cuts. Although it is still named the Career Center, budgets cuts have eliminated the career technician at HHS. Our scholarship program is one of the few remaining in Sonoma County, largely due to the McCord funding. Mrs. Nimmo advises students to first make their college choice and then use scholarships – the local ones described in the first article and the major ones described below - to supplement funding for their first year of school. They should have a plan, discussed with their families, for how college will be funded and consider the scholarships a bonus. There are two happy exceptions to this rule: students in medical and musical fields may apply – and reapply – annually for the Florence McCord Level 2 Scholarship. Last year the McCord awarded $141,200 to students continuing to pursue medical and musical higher degrees after their freshman year in college. The Van Ornum Vocational Scholarship, the oldest of the four major programs, is a vocational scholarship and students may reapply as long as they continue their education at a trade school, business school or junior college. Over the years more than 100 seniors have been McCord Level 1 recipients, meaning they planned to study in the musical or medical fields in their freshman year at college. There are a host of HHS alumni working in the medical professions thanks to the McCord Level 1 and 2 scholarships. Two alumnae and recipients of the McCord for medical school, Lisa Velasquez ‘86 and Julie Herbert ’88, will help Dr. Douglas Pile with his free high school sports physical program this summer. The Florence Madeline Barnes scholarship was established in 1995 and has funded more than 100 students who carried a cumulative weighted GPA of 3.5 and higher for their four years at Healdsburg High. The award amount varies each year because most seniors who qualify and apply receive money. The James Family Foundation, the high school’s newest major award, is a four-year, full ride scholarship for one lucky senior who has been accepted at one of 15 east coast schools specified in the criteria. Books, board, and tuition are included in this gift. The James family, which owns a ranch in the Alexander Valley, has established similar scholarships at two other high schools in small towns near properties they own. The District Communications Committee is interested in hearing about recipients of the various scholarships over the years. Send updates and other information to communications@husd.com. Individuals and organizations interested in establishing a scholarship or providing additional funding for an existing one may contact Laurie Nimmo at the High School’s Career Center. This article was written with assistance from Nancy Carlson, Laurie Nimmo and Herman Velasquez. |
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