Rick Stiebel/News Gazette staff
Six West Shore high school students have reason to smile after receiving scholarships from Westshore Sunrise Rotary club.
Royal Bay secondary school students Matthew Thomson, Maria Soares and Tessa Olson joined Belmont students Abbey Haase, Gavin Aubrey and Joshua Gilbert as this year’s recipients of $1,000 each for post-secondary education.
Jim ten Hove, scholarship chair for Westshore Sunrise, said the students were selected on criteria that included volunteer work, community contributions and a letter the students wrote on the Rotary’s motto of Service Above Self.
“We worked with a teacher from each school and considered marks, what schools they plan to attend and financial need as well,” said ten Hove, who made the selection with Lorne Olson, Westshore Sunrise youth director. “It seems like Lorne and I are pretty much always on the same page.”
The club has awarded $6,000 for scholarships each year for at least the past 10 years, ten Hove noted. Although the money traditionally all went to Belmont students, the decision to split the money between the two schools was made when Royal Bay opened two years ago. The number of applicants each year can vary from about 10 on average to 30 or more, ten Hove added. The winners were announced during graduation ceremonies on June 4 and June 11 at the University of Victoria, with the students receiving the money at the club’s meeting on June 15 at the Juan de Fuca Seniors Centre.
Rotary International also awards scholarships annually worth $25,000 U.S. “We sponsored three of those in the past few years,” ten Hove said. “They all went to students from Royal Roads University.”