The Alpine Woman’s Club Scholarship, Preservation and Education Foundation is now accepting scholarship applications from graduating high school seniors of 2020 who reside in Alpine.
According to scholarship chairman Suzie Curtis, the Alpine Woman’s Club has awarded more than $140,000 to help students pursue their educational goals through their Scholarship, Preservation and Education Foundation in a program that dates back to 1950.
“It is an absolute joy to receive applications each year from our Alpine students who are continuing their education at a college, university or vocational school. It is always extremely hard to choose winners from our phenomenal cohort of applicants,” Woman’s Club President Linda Whitlock said.
Curtis said successful recipients illustrate a well-developed sense of community participation, show scholastic and extra curricular achievement, and plan to attend a college, university or vocational school.
A complete list of requirements can be found on the Woman’s Club website at: alpinewomansclub.org, along with the scholarship application, which must be received by May 31.
Alpine Woman’s Club Representative Kathy Stewart said it is especially important to spread word of available scholarship funding for local students this year as they remain at home through social distancing.
“With schools closed, we are making an extra effort to inform graduating Alpine high school seniors and their families about our scholarship program. We don’t want this year’s graduates to miss out on the opportunity because of an accidental lack of communication with their counselors and teachers,” Stewart said.
Last year, the Woman’s Club awarded three recipients $2,000 apiece, including Alpine resident and Eagle Scout Devon Fox.
Fox said the scholarship was extremely helpful in his first year as a Criminal Justice major at San Diego State University.
“I spent about $700 of it on books so far and I’ve also paid for other things like test fees,” Fox said.
Fox said his first year at college was going as planned when schools were closed on March 13 for social distancing efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19.
“I was enjoying making new friends and going to classes and I was pledging to a fraternity during coronavirus. Now, with school all online things have gotten harder so I’ve also used some of the scholarship money for test preparation to keep up with school. I still have the rest set aside for next year,” Fox said.
Another 2019 scholarship recipient, Skylar Larsen said her scholarship money went to textbooks as well.
“My freshman year at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), after winning the Alpine Woman’s Club Scholarship, has been an absolute dream. By spending my scholarship money on all my textbooks, I have been able to study classical physics as well as electricity and magnetism, single and multivariable calculus, astrobiology, astronomy, and computer science, mainly the coding language Python,” Larsen said.
She also said the unexpected school closure altered her first year in college.
“I still meet with my professors via Zoom daily for classes and study sessions. My professors have even found new ways to engage students. For example, my astronomy class recently recreated an ancient Greek experiment which calculated the circumference of the Earth using nothing but sticks and trigonometry, and required different data points from different parts of the globe.”
Both Fox and Larsen said they are grateful to the Alpine Woman’s Club and look forward to being back on campus next year.
