At the heart of today’s weekly Rotary Club of West Seattle (WSB sponsor) lunch meeting was a celebration of eight students who are receiving nine scholarships. Rotarian Gina Topp, who leads the organization’s Scholarship Committee, remarked on what a joy it is to “get to support young people in our comunity and their futures.” The winners each got a moment to speak to the Rotarians filling the banquet room at West Seattle Golf Course:

GAMBRIELL SCHOLARSHIP
PAST PRESIDENT’S SCHOLARSHIP
Malia Barker from West Seattle High School received two scholarships ($10,000 total):

STUDENT OF THE YEAR SCHOLARSHIPS
Ella Galitas from Summit Atlas ($1,000):

Binta Diagana from Chief Sealth International High School ($4,000):

Thuc Nguyen from West Seattle HS ($4,000):

PAST PRESIDENT’S SCHOLARSHIP
Ryan Bonsak from Maritime High School in the Highline district ($6,000):

EARL CRUZEN ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP FOR AUTOMOTIVE TECHNOLOGY
The three winners are all students in the South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) Automotive Technology program, and each received a tool set like this:

Brandon Castañeda-Rodriguez:

Markus Nicholson:

Nathan Chau:

“You will not regret believing in me,” Nathan assured the Rotarians. Find out more about their scholarship program here.

NEXT UP FOR ROTARY: Next week’s lunch speaker (noon June 17) will be West Seattle-residing, globetrotting photographer extraordinaire Art Wolfe … On July 1, the club gathers for its installation dinner, to welcome a new slate of officers.