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ATTENDING THE SCHOLARSHIP GALA were (l-r) Hawaiian Gardens Mayor Rey Rodriguez, Council member Marianna Rios, Princess Tyler Williams, Miss Hawaiian Gardens Contestants Lelie Trejo and Lorena Tinajera, New Miss Hawaiian Gardens Evangelina Romero, Miss Hawaiian Gardens 2017 Carla Torres, Council members Myra Maravilla, and Hank Trimble. Photo courtesy city of Hawaiian Gardens.
BY BRIAN HEWS
Hawaiian Gardens held their annual scholarship dinner this past Saturday awarding $55,000 in scholarships completely funded by the City.
Mayor Reynaldo Rodriguez congratulated the students and said that the city would continue to support educational programs such as the scholarships.
The scholarship winners must be residents of Hawaiian Gardens, and also must be graduating seniors with a minimum GPA of 2.5. Candidates apply and go through a rigorous panel interview and must complete 20 hours of volunteer service with the City.
The City also presented their Miss Hawaiian Gardens Queen and Court; the new Miss Hawaiian Gardens is Evangelina Romero and her Princess is Tyler Williams. Miss Hawaiian Gardens is also a scholarship program where contestants went through a four-month training period to help them succeed in their future endeavors including seminars in etiquette, public speaking, dress for success, and interview skills.
Similar to youth scholarships, the City gave away adult scholarships where winners must be residents of the City, pass a panel interview, volunteer at one special event in the City, and be classified, according to CDBG standards, as low income.
The Adult Scholarship recipients for 2018 were Eduardo Anaya, Ramona Arechiga, Felicia Cleaver, Monique Contreras, Marifrey Escobar, Jazmin Figueroa, Celeste Galvez, Alexis Garcia, Yvonne Aide Gonzalez, Nestor Gudino, Kendrick Larios, Alexandra Loaiza, Samantha Lomeli, Marina Alexandra Macias, Carol Marrroquin, Diana Ivette Martinez, Mardco Martinez, Eduardo Morales, Byron Navarro, Raul Navarro, Rodolfo Pantoja, Efrain Quintero, Stephany Dennys Rodriguez, Carla Torres, Guadalupe Trejo, Cyndie Trejo
The City also gave awards in the Mayor’s Youth Walk of Achievement. 2018 recipients were Valerie Acosta, Ricardo Anaya, Marielena Fernandez, Leonardo Garcia, Nazareo David Gonzalez, Alexander Gudino, Eddy Guzman, Fabian Jacinto, Katerin Joachin, Julia Mutschler, Fabian Perez, Annabel Sanchez, and Anayali Sepulveda
The guest speaker at the event was ABCUSD Board Member Dr. Olga Rios. Rios encouraged the students to continue with higher education as way out of poverty, and stay engaged in the community.
