Assistance League of Diablo Valley Awards $146,000 in Scholarships

Congratulations, Scholarship recipients (as seen above) of 2016! Kneeling (l to r) Sharofidden Abdugapparov, Scholarships Co-Chair Cindi Segale, Christopher Yi, Jomari Fernandez, Barune Thapa, Scholarships Co-Chair Lesley Salo; middle row (l to r) Erica Wagoner, Justine Rawlings, Antonio Chavez-Islas, Carl Damon Wiley, Alejandro Hernandez, Opal Franklin, Marina Edwards, Angelica Singh; standing (l to r) Terra de Haan, Jules McClary, Jenna Weathers, Ahmadullah Hasani, Lillian Hunter-Reay, Tajh Elliott, Julie Ho, Vanessa Cortez-Avila, Dannesha Lewis, Bob Zhou, Liliana Calderon, Ines Torres and Brittany Chauvin.

Since 1999, Assistance League® of Diablo Valley’s Scholarships program has provided financial and emotional support to high school, community college, and university students who express a desire to advance through education by maintaining a designated grade point average, volunteering in campus and community projects, and charting an academic time line.

High School awardees include Liliana Calderon, San Raphel High School; Sharofiddin Abdugapparov and Julie Ho, Pinole Valley High School; Alejandro Hernandez, Middle College High School, San Pablo; Christopher Yi, Aspire Richmond Academy; Jomari Fernandez, Pittsburg High School; Juels McClary, Deer Valley High School, Antioch; Tajh Elliott, Freedom High School, Oakley; Carl Damon Wiley, Jr., De La Salle High School, Concord; Matthew Cawley, Brittany Chauvin, College Park High School, Concord; Lillian Hunter-Reay, Miramonte High School, Orinda; and Tiffany Bui, Sierra High School, Manteca.

Community College recipients include Ysidra Camarena, Antonio Chavez-Islas, Vanessa Cortez-Avila, Ahmadullah Hasani, Charrell Sherman, Ines Torres and Rubie Villela, Los Medanos College, Pittsburg; Valeria Avila, Opal Franklin, Contra Costa College, San Pablo; Mary Ann Ching, Marina Edwards, Dannesha Lewis, Erica Wagoner and Bob Zhou, Diablo Valley College, Pleasant Hill.

Additionally, three relatively recent categories, titled Spotlight, Sandi Lou Back-to-School and the Norma Dresser Field of Dreams Scholarships are funded by private donors who have determined the criteria for eligibility.  Recipients must maintain a 2.8 grade point average and carry a minimum of 12 units during the entire time they receive funding.

The Spotlight Scholarships, which is renewable each year,  awarded to students who show particularly strong focus on their educational goals that lead to a career path in their chosen field. Recipients are Natalie Hill, UC Davis; Kayla Lopez, JFK University; Justine Rawlings and Jenna Weathers, Cal State University East Bay; Alison Spencer, UC Berkeley, Eric Wagoner, Jr., Los Medanos College; Sophie Zhang, Princeton University. More specifically, the Spotlight On You Scholarship addresses vocational and technology education; this year’s recipient is Terra de Haan, Los Medanos Community College.

The Sandi Lou Back-to-School Scholarship award supports a student who has returned to school after a lengthy absence. William Hays, currently a student at Diablo Valley College, will attend UC Davis where he will major in Computer Science.

The Norma Dresser Field of Dreams Scholarship celebrates a chapter member who spent her last years dealing with deteriorating vision. This scholarship benefits students with visual impairment as they work toward their educational goals. The recipients for 2016 are Atheana Savage- Anderson, Horizons High School, Concord and Angelica Singh, Diablo Valley College.

A fourth privately funded scholarship is the multi-year Mardis Preciado Memorial Scholarship. The recipient must be a student who has received a one-year scholarship from Assistance League of Diablo Valley last May and has achieved a 2.8 grade point average in his or her first year in college. The money will be disbursed in equal payments over the remaining six semesters of undergraduate work as long as the student maintains 12 units and a 2.8 grade point average. The 2015-16 recipient is Barune Thapa, a student at University of California, Berkeley, whose major is Public Health/Molecular Cell Biology.

Congratulations to all! Scholarships committee members look forward to hearing from them in the ensuing years. To learn about all of Assistance League of Diablo Valley’s philanthropic programs, please visit this website: diablovalley.assistanceleague.org.