Saling Scholarship Winners

 

 

 

            Aug. 3: Luncheon, on Zoom.   Speaker is Emily Grankowski, “Cancer Can/t”  

 

 

            Bill Hiatt services: The memorial service for Bill Hiatt, scheduled for Aug.1, has been postponed indefinitely.  Brian Hipperson connected with Bill’s son, Randy, who said the service will be rescheduled either when Stage 4 gatherings are allowed or at another time to be determined.

 

            Holmes supplies: Sandy Fink said our club has placed an order with the folks at Staples for $2,291 for a large assortment of crayons, glue, facial tissues and other items to fill the cupboards at Holmes Elementary School.  If Covid mandates allow, club members will meet in late August for the work project.

 

            Fund-raising ideas needed: With our fall wine event and dinner postponed, President Steve Bergman asks members to think of ways to supplement the money that will be lost to fund Holmes Elementary projects.  He said leaders at other Rotary Clubs in the area also are discussing ways to make up the deficits for their projects.

 

            Steve also said club leaders also are discussing projects, including a food drive effort, if larger crowds are again able to gather.

 

            Position wanted:  The club still needs a president-elect to fill out the board roster.

 

 

With a stellar list of applicants from various North Side high schools, the scholarship committee and board of directors agreed to honor four winners.  Each scholarship is for $1,500.

 

            The winners are:

                                                                                                                   

 

 

 

 

            At the July 20 luncheon meeting, via Zoom, Ha and McDougall participated as Scholarship Committee Chair Brian Hipperson discussed the applicant field and talked about Gerry Saling’s passion for education.

 

            Saling taught and was principal at Roosevelt Elementary before becoming dean of education and president at Spokane Falls Community College.  He served in the state legislature as representative and senator.  He joined Rotary-North in 1983.

 

            “He was passionate about education and a budget hawk in the Legislature,” Hipperson said.  Brian mentioned that Saling was among the first to see the education possibilities at the Riverpoint Center, including helping to found the SIRTI technology start-up project.

 

            Tracy Ha, a 4.0 student at Rogers, also did Running Start at SFCC and SCC.  She earned a biology degree at SFCC and was tutoring college students there while she was in high school.

            She was in the school’s Rotary Interact club, the National Honor Society, vice president of Skills USA and Key Club.  And she also worked 40 hours a week at her mom’s nail salon.

            History teacher Jamie Oleson, of Rogers, said “in her 24 years of teaching, Tracy ranks in the top three.”

 

            Tracy will enroll at Stanford for majors in health sciences and pre-med.  Early plans are to be a physician or ob-gyn.

 

            Asked about how the Covid pandemic has changed her, Tracy said “how much we rely on other people.”  She said students try hard to go to classes on Zoom, but it’s not the same as being in classrooms. 

“People are important to others,” she said.

 

 

 

            Jared McDougall earned a 3.979 GPA at Shadle and plans to attend Whitworth to major into secondary education and English.

            Jared has been in the Silver Spurs International Folk Dancers group for 10 years.  He is an Eagle Scout and his scouting project was to build and organize shelving and containers for the huge wardrobe Silver Spurs has amassed over the decades.

            Among his activities, he volunteered at VFW Post 51, Hospice of Spokane, Hoopfest and scouting food drives.

 

            In his comment on the Rotary 4-Way Test, Jared said through scouting “I became aware of all the different types of people in the world.”  That included people with autism, ADHD and depression.

 

            Holly Farnsworth, advance placement English teacher, said of Jared, “Mediocrity has no place in Jared’s life.  He strives for excellent in every endeavor.  He is a rare talend and one remarkable man.”

 

 

 

 

            Jacob Satake was an ASB Treasurer and achieved a 3.85 GPA and plans to attend WSU majoring in pre-med.

            He wants to be an endrocrinologist working on cures for Type 1 Diabetes.  He was diagnosed with diabetes at age 13 and has fought for diabetic rights patients during high school  Sen. Maria Cantwell

invited Jacob to the State of the Union Address.  While in Washington, D.C., Jacob met with legislators and media representatives to discuss the medical issues.

 

            He has volunteered at Sacred Heart’s Children’s Medical Center on the oncology floor.

 

            NC Principal Steve Fisk said of Jacob, “He turned a debilitating aspect of his life and turned it into his purpose and passion.”

 

 

 

 

 

            Ava Munizza achieved a 3.463 GPA at the New Tech Skills Center and The Community School.  She earned a Certified Nurse Assistant license and plans to major in nursing at SFCC, and either WSU or EWU. She works at a nursing home and works with people who need tracheotomy assistance for breathing difficulties.  Because her father has kidney failure and an autoimmune disease, she could not live at home because she could not expose risking Covid issues into her home.  Thus she has had to support herself.

 

            She said “I want to stay in Spokane and give back to my community as a registered nurse.”

 

            Kate Hagan, an RN at New Tech, said “Ava is a leader” who represented at the state level as a health occupation student associate. Also, Hagan said, Ava “takes charge in the classroom” and was chosen as a “restorative justice classroom facilitator to counsel peers.”

 

            (The Community School, housed at Bancroft School, at 1025 W. Spofford, has 150 students in grades 9-12.  The school has a project-based curriculum, as opposed to the traditional teacher-classroom program.  Spokane’s TCS program is one of 200 schools in 28 states.)  

 

            As the Zoom-session finished, Brian Hipperson told the winners: “You have wonderful futures and we are proud that you are from Spokane.” He closed by challenging each scholarship winner “to use their desire and ability to make a difference in somebody’s life.”