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LAKE COUNTY – Seventeen fifth-graders in schools throughout the Mendocino-Lake Community College District are receiving awards made possible this year by the Mendocino College Foundation’s Adopt-A-Fifth-Grader Program, College Superintendent/President Kathryn G. Lehner has announced.
Award winners were honored at the schools in ceremonies at the end of the school year. One school will announce its award recipient in August.
Thanks to the generosity of several new donors and a few repeat contributors, the number of achievement awards has increased significantly over the last couple of years, said Lehner.
In Lakeport, student Breanna Perry of Terrace Middle School was selected for the honor, made possible by a donation from the Mendo Lake Credit Union.
Ukiah school students honored this year are Liset Escamilla, Oak Manor Elementary, donor Mendo Lake Credit Union; Jessica Garcia, Grace Hudson Elementary, donor Kathryn G. Lehner; Selena Magana Sutherland, Daniela Cocone, and Katheryn McCoy, Nokomis Elementary, donors Tommy and Ann Thornhill; Harmony Hutchins, River Oak Charter, donor Ed Haynes; Alexis Small, Yokayo Elementary, donors Donna and Ed Berry; and Claudia Kelly, Frank Zeek Elementary, anonymous donor.
Award recipients in other areas of the College district are David Eligio, Anderson Valley Elementary, donor Charles and Wanda Mannon; Jely Espinoza, Redwood Valley Elementary, donors Christy and Dave Scollin; Roselyn Alvarez, Hopland Elementary, donor Wade and Mary Lou Koeninger; Nona Hope Delaine Hoaglen, Round Valley Elementary, Covelo, donor Mendo Lake Credit Union; and Isabel Guiterrez, Natalee Lopes, and Tia Lynn Grant, Blosser Lane Elementary, Willits, donors Tom Herman, Claudia Smith Hill and the Rotary Club of Willits.
The recipient from St. Mary of the Angels School in Ukiah (donor Paul Conrado) will be announced in August.
The foundation’s program, previously known as “Adopt-A-School Achievement Awards,” is in its third year.
The first award was given at Hopland Elementary School, made available through the generosity of Wade and Mary Lou Koeninger, who started the program on their own at the Hopland school 17 years ago. They have provided sponsorship funding for a student honoree each year.
Contributors sponsor fifth-graders at elementary schools within the college district by donating $700 per student. The $700 gift is invested and, based on an average 7 percent return per year, grows to over $1,000 by the time the recipient graduates from high school, allowing for a maximum $1,000 scholarship.
The award winners are chosen in a manner designated by the students' schools. At the end of the school year, each student receives $25 and a certificate as the recipient of the award. Upon graduation from high school, the student receives a $500 cash incentive or a $1,000 scholarship if he or she elects to attend Mendocino College.
For each of the three students receiving awards made possible by donations from the Mendo Lake Credit Union this year, the credit union matched the student’s $25 prize with an offer to open an MLCU savings account with the contribution of an additional $25, according to the credit union’s chief executive officer, Richard Cooper, who is a member of the foundation’s board of directors.
Donations are tax-deductible. Anyone interested in sponsoring one or more fifth-graders may make a $700 donation per student. Donors may designate a school preference or allow the foundation to choose. Donations to sponsor a school in perpetuity are also accepted.
The Mendocino College Foundation seeks to receive contributions for sponsoring at least one fifth-grader from every elementary school within the Mendocino-Lake Community College District.
For more information about the program or to make a donation, call the foundation office at 707-467-1018.
Additional information is available on the foundation’s Web site, http://foundation.mendocino.edu.
