Kiwanis Club awards scholarship money to six local students

The Mission Viejo Kiwanis Club has awarded $4,500 in college scholarships to six graduating seniors in the Saddleback Valley.

Recipients of the Dwight and Carol Williamson Memorial Scholarship Awards worth $750 each include:

Wes Hartman, a Mission Viejo High School student who maintained a 4.2 GPA, ranking 91 in his graduating class of 631. He was defensive captain of the Diablo football team. He is an Eagle Scout, attended California Boys State, is part of the Model UN program and is an active participant with his church youth group. He will attend Tufts University in Boston.

Christine Tu, who is president of the community service Key Club at Capistrano Valley High School. She has been a member of the National Honor Society for two years and has amassed more than 75 hours of community service helping raise funds for Pediatric Trauma Prevention, UNICEF and CHOC. Off campus she is a worship leader at the Vietnamese Saddleback Church of Irvine. She will attend Saddleback College with plans to transfer to UCLA. Eventually she would like to be a neonatal pediatrician.

Yukari Suda, who attained a 3.7 GPA while attending Silverado High School. She also has completed 22 hours of credit courses at Saddleback College in physics, Japanese language and art. She will attend college in Japan and plans to pursue a career as an artist in the world of manga, Japanese comics books.

Nairi Mardirossian, who attained a 3.5 GPA as a Coastline Regional Occupation Program student at Mission Viejo High School. During her school years she amassed 340 hours of community service and has been an active volunteer working in the Armenian community. She will attend Saddleback College and then transfer to a four-year school to pursue a career in forensic biology.

Yamileet Escalante, a student at Capistrano Valley High School who was nominated through the Capistrano- Laguna Beach Regional Occupational Program. She is an ESL student who earned the Cougar Award for exceptional character and responsibility in the classroom. The honoree is a volunteer at Mission Hospital. She will attend Saddleback College with plans for a career in dental surgery.

Angela Compania, a senior at Tesoro High School, has been very active in the school Key Club and the Filipino Club. On campus, she has been a member of the Tesoro Tribune student publication writing news and feature articles. She helped the Kiwanis Club raise scholarship funds by being an active participant in the See’s Candy fundraiser held outside Pavilions in Rancho Santa Margarita and Mission Viejo. She will attend UC Irvine pursuing a business administration degree.

The students and their parents were recently recognized at an awards breakfast at the Mission Viejo Library. Kiwanis President Jack Saxton introduced Mayor Frank Ury who offered praise for the dedication of the students and the support of their parents.

The scholarships, based on community service and academic achievement, were created in honor of Dwight and Carol Williamson for their involvement with the Mission Viejo Kiwanis Club and for their work with Vocational Visions of Mission Viejo.
Coordinating this year’s scholarship program were Keith Sims, Bob Gaebel and Patricia Griggs, members of the Kiwanis Youth Services Committee.

The Kiwanis Club meets every Tuesday at 7:10 a.m. for breakfast at Denny’s at Alicia Parkway and Interstate 5. More information is available by calling Warren Esterline at 949-364-0672.