Highline Schools Foundation awards $83,000 to 2014 scholarship winners

The Highline Schools Foundation recently awarded $83,000 in scholarships to graduating students in Highline Public Schools. The six students receiving scholarships in 2014 were honored at last night’s Highline Public Schools Board meeting. Each received a plaque of recognition from Highline Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Susan Enfield and School Board President Michael Spear. These scholarships are made possible by the support of Highline Schools Foundation’s generous individual donors and corporate partners. A list of the specific scholarships, and the students who were awarded in 2014, is below: The Light & Love Scholarship was created this year by the Pappas family in honor of Nancy Pappas’s son, Dominick Pappas, and is intended to recognize students whose personality and genuine kindness have been consistently demonstrated over the years. Nancy Pappas Barnhart is a long-time employee of Highline Public Schools who lost her son Dominick, at the age of five. Dominick would have graduated from Highline Public Schools this year. 2014 Light & Love Scholarship Recipients: Brook Negussie Brook attends Global Connections High School and will attend the University of Washington in the fall. Brook is ambitious, optimistic, collaborative, dedicated, intelligent, and compassionate. According to his counselor, “his smile and kindness light up the room.” He was recently Global Connections Student of the Year. Brook and his family came here from Ethiopia when Brook was in the 4th grade. Brook says “I always try to make people laugh because laughter can help people forget their problems for one moment, and bring a little sunshine to their day.” Salote Tunidau Salote attends Highline High School where she participates in the AVID program. She plans to attend Northwest University in the fall. Salote has been able to use her past experiences to help others. She is wise beyond her years, and incredibly positive and generous, even having overcome difficult situations. She is positive, and empathetic to those around her, and has earned the respect of both students and staff at Highline High School. Salote said: “I wanted to make a positive impact on others, so I made a promise to myself that I would always be kind and generous to others because you never knew who needed it.” The Alaska Airlines Scholarship was created this year thanks to the generosity of Alaska Airlines, an important partner with Highline Schools Foundation. They received many applications for this scholarship. All applicants had incredible grades, many were English Language Learners at some point in their education, some were recent immigrants, and all of them found time to give back to their communities. 2014 Alaska Airlines Scholarship Recipient: Camila Palacio Camila is an honors student at Raisbeck Aviation High school, plays in the jazz ensemble, navigates the community for her Spanish speaking parents, and holds a position of leadership in Aviation’s rigorous and competitive Skunk Works Robotics program. Camila was awarded a paid internship at Blue Origin, which is a company developing technologies to enable human access to space for the summer, and then will start UW this fall where she plans to study Electrical Engineering and contribute to the aerospace industry. The Foundation’s long-established and most substantial scholarship, The Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (STIA) Scholarship, has been provided by volunteer employees of the Port of Seattle and HMS Host for 14 years. All funds raised from the STIA Charity Golf Tournament every summer benefits this scholarship program. 2014 STIA Scholarship Recipients: Ni Ngun Ni attends ACE High School and plans to attend Highline Community College next fall, where she will study to become an English Teacher. Ni deserves extra kudos for this goal, as she came to ACE in 2010 knowing no English. It is also worth noting that Ni is graduating from ACE with a cumulative 4.0 GPA. A quote from Ni: “I will keep learning English, and I will go to college and learn more and more until my brain doesn’t work anymore.” Jovany Del Toro Jovany attends Health Sciences & Human Services High School and plans to attend the University of Washington or Western Washington University in the fall where he will study math, civil engineering or finance. Jovany is a four year honor roll student, on the All-Academic First Team for the SeaMount League, and a member of the National Honor Society. He is also the ASB Vice President, and National Honor Society Treasurer. A quote from Jovany: “I want to show my small family here in Seattle the college is a possible option and is definitely achievable.” Melissa Brown Melissa attends Health Sciences & Human Services High School and plans to attend the University of Washington in the fall where she plans to pursue a career in the medical field. Melissa is a four year member of the HS3 Honor Roll, and a recipient of a Highline Public Schools scholar-athlete award. She received the Coaches Award for Cheer in 2013, and was the head cheer captain this school year. Melissa won the Scholastic Excellence Award from the United States Marine Corps in 2012. College, I will show people what being positive can do. Everyone goes through hardships, but with positivity, anyone can overcome anything.” Here’s a gallery of images from the scholarship presentation by BTB photog Michael Brunk. You can click individual images to view them larger. 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