By Gretchen Wing
The Lopez Island Community Scholarship Foundation (LICSF) is proud to share the news of its 2023 awards recipients. One student received $2,500 for a two-year Career and Technical Education (CTE) program, and two others received a $5,000 award for four years of study.
This year’s CTE awardee is Jennifer Ramos Clavel. Lopez High School teacher Al Torres recommended Jennifer as “kind, talented, caring, compassionate, intuitive, dedicated, intelligent, and a strong person.” After a gap year working on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona, Jennifer will be attending the two-year Dental Assistant program at San Juan College in Farmington, New Mexico.
Both of LICF’s four-year college awardees are bound for the University of Western Washington. Malachi Cary will study Kinesiology. In his application, Malachi expressed gratitude “for my supportive family, and the opportunities the island could afford. It has shaped me and all that I am. At the same time,” he wrote, “I am ready to embrace the many opportunities beyond the island. As a first-generation college student, I am eager to expand my learning and to engage fully in classes, athletics, and student life. I am fully prepared to see how this next phase will shape and define my future.”
Malachi will be joined in the WWU Class of 2027 by Juan Anthony Velasquez, who was recommended in his scholarship application by Lopez High School teacher Richard Tȇtu. Acknowledging that “students rarely seek me for recommendations” because of his high standards, Tȇtu wrote, “Whether it is organizing a major musical event or helping a staff member get a van full of students to the ferry on time, Anthony is a man on whom you can count. He does this selflessly, often giving up his own participation so that others can enjoy themselves.”
For his part, Anthony cited music teacher Jesse Hammond and his band MPPACT as a major component of his high school growth. While his choice of major appears fluid at this time, Anthony wrote, “Jesse’s way of enabling kids to find their passions and harness them toward a common vision has inspired me to do the same in the future—giving back to the community while enabling individual passions and dreams.”
This year, one of the $5,000 scholarships was provided with funds from the Lopez Island Solid Waste Alternatives Program (SWAP.) On behalf of the community, LICSF thanks SWAP for its generosity, and wishes these stellar 2023 graduates all the best in their life’s next chapter.
To learn more about this community scholarship program, or to lend your support, please visit licsf.org.
