At Columbia College´s Annual Scholarships and Awards Celebration on Apr. 22, a total of $75,229 will be awarded to 75 students. The ceremony will be held at 4 p.m. in the Dogwood Forum and will be followed by a public reception. Free parking will be available in the upper and lower campus lots.
Laura Ordway of Twain Harte won the college´s top faculty scholarship of $1,800 and as such, was named the Student of the Year. Her name will be engraved on a special plaque, which will be displayed in the Rotunda of the Manzanita Building.
Over 150 student applicants at Columbia College applied initially for more than one hundred scholarship awards. Those selected for faculty scholarships were chosen by the school´s scholarship committee, and then presented for faculty review. Ordway was the faculty´s first choice from a selection of seven outstanding finalists, all with excellent academic records and grade point averages of 3.89 or higher.
A liberal studies major with a 4.0 GPA, Ordway will receive an A.A. degree from Columbia College later this month and plans on pursuing a bachelor´s degree in biochemistry and kinesiology in a pre-med curriculum at either Stanford University or Wheaton College. Her ultimate goal is to acquire a medical degree from Johns Hopkins University and work as a medical missionary for children in third world countries. She was also recently recognized as a regents´ scholar by UCLA.
Ralph Busick of Goleta and Heather Skaza of Altaville were awarded $1,200 each as second place faculty scholarship winners. Busick will graduate later this month with an A.S. degree in natural resources. Also a 4.0 student, he intends to transfer to CSU Humboldt to earn B.S. and M.S. degrees in the same field with future plans of becoming a hydrologist in Africa.
After serving six years as a U.S. Navy nuclear engineering laboratory technician, Heather Skaza will complete lower division courses at Columbia College, and then plans to transfer to UC Davis for a B.S. degree. Her long-term goal is completion of a doctorate in conservation biology and would like to teach on the college level.
Other faculty scholarship finalists were Jessica Dunlap, Crystal Myers, Julie Schmidt and Jason White. These winners and finalists are recognized as the top seven students at the college.
This post was last modified on 01/31/2009 4:30 pm