By Jake Dobbs and Ana Hernandez:
As the school year ends, graduates say goodbye, lockers get cleaned out and students leave for the summer, two students received scholarships for their remarkable hard work.
Daniel Pearl Magnet High School (DPMHS) senior Cailin Reid received a scholarship in the amount of $2,000 from the Fernando Award Foundation in correlation with the Fernando Award for Volunteerism in the San Fernando Valley.
The scholarship is for students who have devoted their time to community service. Reid was part of the WAPI’s project on Sparkle Saturday, helped DPMHS get set up for this school year over last summer, along with a multitude of other small services.
The most impressive of her contributions to her community is her volunteering at an elementary school close to her home. Reid has volunteered at Burbank Boulevard Elementary tutoring the students since sixth grade.
After years of volunteer work, Reid has gathered an impressive 3,000 service hours and is still earning more and more hours. The scholarship allows Reid to use the money for whatever she desires, however is planning on using it to further her education in college.
Reid, who served as Features Editor of The Pearl Post during her senior year, was recognized for this scholarship during DPMHS’ graduation on June. 5.
From maintaining a cumulative GPA of 4.0 to giving back to his church, DPMHS sophomore Christian Marroquin’s work paid off when he received a $500 one-time scholarship.
The scholarship is provided by the Warren Christopher Scholarship Fund. This is given to high school sophomores in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) who have excelled in academics and community service. The money is given to the financial adviser of a student’s selected college/university once they enroll.
DPMHS’ Martina Torres nominated Marroquin for the scholarship.
“The reason I nominated him was for his outstanding grades, GPA and his community service for years at his church that were more than 40 hours,” Torres said.
Although he was a runner-up, Marroquin was astonished to find out a couple of days later that he won the award.
“I was proud of myself that I won although I didn’t get first place,” Marroquin said. “My parents were proud of me because they see all of the hard work that I’ve done.”
As the 2012-2013 school year comes to an end, Marroquin looks forward to SAT/ACT testing and expanding his college choices.
“I’ve been thinking about attending CSUN because it’s closer to home. As of right now, I don’t know what I want to study but I can’t wait to see what’s ahead of me for junior year,” Marroquin said.
