Soroptimist International of Richmond awards scholarship

On May 28th, Soroptimist International awarded a $2000 scholarship to Monica Gonzalez of Richmond High School. This scholarship is given each year to a deserving young woman graduating from a West County High School who has been accepted to a college for the fall semester. Students are considered based on their school performance, community service, recommendations, and on their personal essays.

Monica Gonzalez, this year’s winner, is one remarkable young lady. She has achieved a 4.02 GPA while spending countless hours volunteering in her community. She has worked at Dover and Grant Elementary School as a volunteer tutor and mentor, helping students with science projects, providing childcare for children whose parents are in adult school classes. Her greatest love is working with children with special needs, especially autistic students. Her college advisor at Richmond High, Ms. Jessica Calderon, speaks highly of her: “Monica possess many strengths, among them is her ability to demonstrate empathy, sensitivity, and kindness towards others….One of the things I personally notice about Monica is that she highly values helping others which in part is driven by her value for promoting and practicing social justice in her school and community.” Scholarship Chairman, Janis McNair, who awarded Monica her scholarship, remarked how Monica stood out above the other 18 applicants because of her commitment to school and community. Monica will be attending UC Davis in the fall, majoring in pharmaceutical chemistry and neurology. Her goal is to study the development and treatment of autism, to understand its causes, and to find innovative treatments to help or cure autism.

Chairman, Janis McNair awards scholarship to Monica Gonzalez at the Soroptimist of Richmond awards luncheon.