Shades Valley Rotary awards annual scholarships

The Rotary Club of Shades Valley held its annual Education Foundation Scholarship luncheon on May 1 at The Birmingham Botanical Gardens. Twelve scholarships of $5,000 each were awarded to high school seniors from Homewood High School, John Carroll Catholic High School, Jefferson County International Baccalaureate School and Shades Valley High School. 

Those receiving scholarships were: Diana Huynh, Alisa Rapadas, Carla Arrow and Sam Kyle, all of Homewood; Ethan Kinnaird and Kimberli Spires of Jefferson County International Baccalaureate School; Emma Hazelhof, Brooke Bouton, Isabela Restrepo and Maria Stamba, all of John Carroll Catholic High School; and Tay’la Robinson and Jonathan Thornton of Shades Valley High School. 

The Educational Foundation of the Rotary Club of Shades Valley was established in 1971 by late Shades Valley Rotarian Daniel J. McKiever. Approximately $1.5 million in scholarships have been awarded since the program’s inception in 1971. Scholarships from the Foundation are available to graduating seniors from these five schools. Students of other high schools may be considered if their permanent residence is in Homewood or Mountain Brook. 

The requirements for the scholarships are rigorous. Forty-one scholarship applications were submitted through the school counselor to the nine-member Scholarship Committee in February. In March, the Scholarship Committee reviewed the applications that included the students’ academics, test scores, honors, extra-curricular activities, financial needs and an essay, from which 24 students were selected for an individual personal interview.

From the 24 individual interviews, twelve students were awarded the $5,000 scholarships. The scholarship awards were announced before Honors Day at the respective high schools and the winning students, their parents and school officials were honored at the Shades Valley Rotary Education Foundation Luncheon. 

John Feagin is chairman of the Education Scholarship Foundation. John is in charge of the Luncheon and awarding the scholarships. Fred Rogers is chairman of the Education Foundation Investment Committee, which provides funding for the scholarships. Dr. Michael Gross is the coordinator between the students and the colleges. The Rotary Club of Shades Valley is the second largest Rotary Club in the Greater Birmingham area and it is the largest Over-The-Mountain service club. Anyone interested in joining should contact Claude Rhea at 726-4081.        

-Submitted by Carter Anthony.