Top students win scholarships

Suzie Harrison

Ninety-one students were honored with scholarships at this year’s

Laguna Beach High School convocation program.

Wednesday night, more than $150,000 in funding was handed out at the

annual event, which has been taking place more more than 20 years.

Many of the scholarships are from individuals and are awarded in honor

of a spouse or loved one. Families and community businesses and places

such as No Square Theatre, Festival of the Arts and Thurston Middle

School donate other scholarships with amounts starting at $50 and

exceeding $7,000.

To help them apply, the school’s graduating seniors are given “The Go

For It Book,” which lists all the possible scholarships available.

Some of the awards require an application process that includes an

essay and even a personal interview.

A volunteer board of about 25 parents and community members organizes

the event, including deciding who will be chosen to give the

presentations.

Prior to the event there is a dinner for the donors, about 130 people

total.

At the dinner, there is also an honored guest and this year retiring

Laguna Beach High and Thurston Middle School band director Jeff Foster

was chosen because of all the years and hours of music he has dedicated

to the convocation ceremony.

“It’s very classy,” said Lee Kucera, president of the scholarship

foundation. “The music is just like the Academy Awards with each piece

lasting in length in accordance to the length of the presentation.

“It’s an incredible spirit of the community. I have never seen

anything like it anywhere.”