Down payment on futures

The Laguna Beach High School Scholarship Foundation celebrated its 20th anniversary Wednesday by awarding record “Dollars for Scholars” at the annual Honors Convocation.

Almost $290,000 in scholarships and awards were presented, about $60,000 of it in renewable four-year scholarships, which have not been previously calculated in the total. One hundred and twelve students were recognized with 245 separate awards. Donors and presenters were honored at a pre-convocation reception, hosted by the foundation.

“Everyone here is a star,” foundation President Marge Earl said. “There would not be an awards ceremony without you. Every graduating senior has a dream for their future and it is thanks to each of you that they will graduate knowing that this community and this school care about their future and are here to support them.”

The Laguna Beach High School Scholarship Foundation was officially formed April 25, 1988, as a chapter of Dollars for Scholars.

Past foundation presidents starting with Hiroko Faulkenstein, who was succeeded by Patty Collisson and Jayne Berberian, and the first foundation secretary Morgan Odell were recognized at the reception.

Past recipients shared the impact their awards had on them.

Erin Henderson was the recipient of eight awards, including the four-year Camron Blackburn Memorial Scholarship, when she graduated in 2001. She attended UCLA where she earned a bachelor’s in English, with minors in Spanish and education. She joined Teach for America and moved to Baltimore to teach middle school. Henderson said the most frightening thing she has ever faced was a classroom of 50 eighth-graders.

While in Baltimore she successfully pursued a master’s in education from Johns Hopkins University. After completing her commitment to Teach for America, Henderson returned to the west and took a job as an account strategist with Google in Irvine.

Katie Kiraly (2007) was the top money award winner in her class.

Kiraly is the daughter of jeweler Patti Jo and Sherwood Kiraly, author, humorist and Coastline Pilot columnist.

She inhered her father’s deft with words and irony, which was recognized by the Festival of Arts, Du Soe Scholarship for Writers. She also received the Olga Tursini award and the four-year, $4,000-a-year Weaver Family Scholarship for a student accepted in one of the top 100 colleges in the country.

Kiraly is a student at Dickinson College in Carlyle, Pa., where she is majoring in Middle Eastern studies, religion and Arabic.

Wachovia Financial Consultant and Senior Vice President of Investments Phillip Freeman spoke at the reception and was recognized for 16 years of guiding the foundation’s portfolio with a plaque.

Retiring trustees Deborah Rabben and Julia Johnson were presented with flowers. Rabben was a trustee for 12 years, Johnson for five years.

New trustees, Susan Elliot-Richardson, Michele Leighton, Kerry Rubel, Annie Sadler and Art Smart were introduced.

Tribute was also paid to U.S. Marine Corps Master Sgt. Jim Law, who died Dec. 14. Law had worked since the mid-1980s with long-time trustee Mary Fegraus on the American Legion Citizenship Award.

“His thoroughness and on-time responses always made the American Legion’s scholarship paperwork process an easy one, “ Fegraus said. “We will miss him and the foundation would like to give him a farewell salute and heartfelt thanks for his commitment.”

Each foundation trustees acts a liaison to specific donors.

The foundation bade farewell to the donors of the McPhisto Scholarship. The award was established 30 years ago by nine graduates know as the Tripple Dribble Associates. The group created the award to encourage students with a talent for humor.

Top honors at the reception always go to the donors, which include businesses, community and educational organizations, service clubs, families and individuals.

“Each award provides tremendous opportunity to the recipients,” Earl said. “It may allow some to realize dreams that would not come true without you. It will allow some to attend a college they may not otherwise have dreamed of attending.

“The phenomenal numbers prove that you believe in the potential of the youth of Laguna Beach.”