As part of BECU’s commitment to education and assisting outstanding students, the BECU Foundation recently awarded 50 BECU student-members – including Kentridge High School’s Camille Senn, Kentwood’s Kathryn Nielsen and Kent’s Emily Francis of Bellevue College – with $2,500 scholarships toward their college education.
For more than 18 years, the BECU Foundation has awarded the scholarships to outstanding high school and undergraduate college students.
The recipients participated in all types of service projects, from creating a non-profit business, Paws for a Cause, to creating an annual Halloween food drive and being a Big Buddy for the Maple Hills Swim Team.
Senn started a gay-straight alliance at her school and is working with the Kent School District to start an inclusive health education curriculum. She has a desire to make her community more accepting of the people around them, especially for LGBTQ students.
For Nielsen, volunteering for the Northwest Mitochondrial Research Guild’s annual fundraising auction has been particularly meaningful. Her little brother was diagnosed with an extremely rare metabolic disorder. The medical crisis itself changed her as a person in many different ways. By giving her time and energy to this cause every year, Nielsen is helping fund research to find a cure for her brother’s disease.
Francis, meanwhile, was a young teenager when she received help from adults who cared for her and wanted to see her life go in a good direction. Now she wants to give back some of that kindness. As an activity club leader for teenage girls in her church, she has received that chance.
The BECU Foundation received approximately 500 applications and selected 50 recipients based on grades, amount of time dedicated to volunteering and an essay about their community involvement project.
Elsewhere
Kent School District (KSD) received its 28th consecutive Certificate of Excellence award in Financial Reporting. The district was recognized by the Association of School Business Officials International (ASBO) for its Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the fiscal year ending 2012. The district was judged to have met or exceeded the program’s high standards for financial reporting and accountability.
This year’s Certificate of Excellence (COE) award confirms KSD’s commitment to financial accountability and transparency. “This award represents a significant achievement and reflects the district’s commitment to the highest standards of school system financial reporting,” said ASBO Executive Director John Musso. …
Marissa Medina, a 2013 graduate of Kentwood High, has been awarded a $2,000 dean’s scholarship for the 2013-14 academic year at Eastern Washington University. The scholarship is awarded to incoming freshman with a GPA over 3.5 and SAT over 1000.
While at Kentwood, Medina played soccer, participated in drama and was Student of the Month in the science department. She is planning on studying forensic science at Eastern. Medina was also in the Running Start Program and completed her AA degree before graduating from high school in the spring. Her parents, Macros and Veronica, live in Kent.
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