The Anacortes Schools Foundation awarded 40 scholarships totaling over $52,000 to graduates of Anacortes High School during a ceremony Wednesday evening. Board members, families, friends, school administrators and local business leaders attended the event held at the Anacortes Middle School.
This writer, acting as a Foundation board director, was pleased to host the ceremony, with Chris Borgen, School Superintendent, presented many of the awards.
Scholarships ranged from $500 - $10,000 for students planning to attend technical, 2-year community college, and 4-year college and university programs. Two $10,000 Okerlund Family Trust Scholarships were presented to Class of 2009 grads Emily Fakkema, who will attend George Fox University, and Stuart Cheyne, who plans to attend Dalhousie University.
The Port of Anacortes awarded 3 scholarships this year to students intending to pursue education in the fields of business and marine technology.
For the first time this year, the Foundation was pleased to help facilitate the first selected recipients of two $500 scholarships presented by the Anacortes Community Forest Lands. Also a first, an Anacortes High School senior was presented with a scholarship by the Washington State School Retirees Association.
Some of these scholarships are made possible by donations from local businesses, such as the Shell Community Scholarships and the Tesoro Community Scholarships. Families have also established scholarship funds in honor or memory of loved ones, such as the Nathan Estvold Memorial Scholarship, for a student demonstrating good citizenship, and the Okerlund Family Trust Scholarship in memory of Emmett Okerlund, AHS Class of 1931.
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- To see the full list, visit the Anacortes Schools Foundation Web site.