Four Shorecrest students awarded scholarships from Lake Forest Park Rotary

Lake Forest Park Rotary Club recently awarded scholarships to four graduating seniors from Shorecrest High School. The celebation took place with parents in attendance at Rotary Club's Wednesday breakfast meeting. The recipients were:

• Allison Ezeonwu 
• Elliot Fisher 
• Anthony Marcus Frates
• Anel Ruiz

The students had applied for the scholarships and the Rotary Scholarship team evalutated their academic records, their volunteer work in the community, and recommendations by a teacher or mentor. Each student submitted a short essay telling the team about themselves and their aspirations for the future. The team also interviewed each individual student.  

Upon review, it became apparent that were all well-qualified, academically, and had completed more than required in volunteering in the community. Truly they are all leaders and practice Service Above Self, in their daily lives. Each student gave a brief talk before they were presented with their scholarship by Frank Michiels, President of the LFP Rotary Club.

Elliot Fisher and Rotary President Frank Michiels

Elliot Fisher said that Mahatma Gandhi epitomizes the value of selflessness when he said, “The best way to find ourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” He discovered that this statement helped him develop a special perspective, changing him from a technically ignorant audience member as he delved into service and emerged with a passion for both service and learning, one the consequence of the other. He applied himself studiously to taking many Honors and AP courses, while finding time to teach sailing, work on theatrical productions, be active on the design team for the new high school, work as a volunteer peer and private tutor, studied piano and tutored music theory, founded a community involvement group in cycling and worked as a construction worker in Chihuahua, Mexico. He is also combining art and science as he builds an articulated hand of metal. He was awarded the President's Volunteer Service Award and is a member of the National Honor Society. He has enrolled at UW in a select pre-engineering class, enrolling as a Junior.

Marcus Frates and Frank Michiels

Marcus Frates has also taken a well-rounded program including AP and Honors classes while at Shorecrest. Besides his studies, Marcus has been involved with Kiwanis Key Club for four years. Key Club, established in 1925, is a student-led organization whose goal is to teach leadership through helping. Key Club International is a part of the Kiwanis International family.  He was chosen as  Lieutenant Governor of his Pacific Northwest District of Alaska, Oregon, Idaho, Northern California, Washington, Yukon and BC Territories of Canada. This past year, he was appointed  to serve as the Communications Chair. He has also been involved in teaching swimming at the YMCA, managing the Girls’ Swim Team in 2011, involved in Relay for Life, a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, and organized a Dance for special needs students. “It takes just one good instructor to spark your passion for a sport, and I hope I have done that for others.” Marcus now heads to Southern California for college where he plans to study economics.

  

Allison Ezeonwu and President Frank Michiels

Allison Ezeonwu is past-president of the Rotary Interact Service Club, and has continued as a hard-working and invested leader. She has taken many AP and Honors classes, and is looking forward to college where she will focus on medicine. This interest in medicine was initiated when, at age nine, she traveled with her family to visit extended family in Nigeria. She was able to meet her grandmother, whose eyesight had failed and couldn’t afford to go to an eye doctor. Healthcare, she learned, is a luxury that many can not afford, nor were there even enough trained physicians in the area to serve the patients. Her interest in public health was sparked, and, in her sophomore year, she began to volunteer at Seattle Children’s Hospital. She also learned skills through her senior project job  by shadowing an EMT to gain more medical experience in a setting where she would need a full range of abilities. “My experiences made me appreciate medicine, and the way it helps people. Long-term, this will make my studies more meaningful to my future career choice of providing medical aid to third world countries.”

Anel Ruiz, Scholarship winner

Anel Ruiz has taken many honors and AP courses. She will be the first person in her family to attend college. She has felt the pressure to push herself to succeed in her academic studies. She plans to journey into a career in which she can give back to the community. She is a member of Rotary Interact Club, joining as part of her community service requirements. However, she found that she really enjoyed the projects in which they were involved: concession stands for home games, Senior Center breakfast and many other projects. She also volunteered with the Center for Human Services in Shoreline, tutoring ESL students. She found that she really enjoys working with the children. Starting out taking Karate lessons at age 8, she has also been volunteering for the karate school, 5 days a week. She has earned her black belt and this means, she said, that it is her duty to assist others and help them meet their goals. These community experiences have helped define what her interests are, with her main goal is to help other people. “I found that being able to effectively teach a skill is very different from being able to perform a skill myself". She also provides tutoring in English and Spanish.

         

Marj Ando, of the Scholarship Committee, ended the ceremony by praising the students for their academic strengths, their service to the community and their growing leadership qualities. As leaders in the New Generations, she challenged them to do good in the community and world through service, and to keep in touch with this Rotary Club as well as Rotaract Club, the college level Rotary Club. They were also given a booklet talking about possible Rotary opportunities they might want to apply for in the future.