The Crowd:

Last week in Newport Beach, 17 local high school graduates received scholarships to launch their higher education goals at a reception at the Balboa Bay Club and Resort.

On a Tuesday night at sunset these young men and women joined their parents, grandparents and in some cases their great-grandparents for a light summer supper in the waterfront Grill Room of the club.

Some 100 very proud and dignified guests gathered for a rite of passage as scholarships totaling $62,000 were bestowed upon deserving students recommended by their high school principals and chosen by a panel of educational leaders led by Norman Loats, former superintendent of schools for the Newport-Mesa Unified School District.

Loats was joined in the difficult selection process by community philanthropist Catherine Thyen, and the Balboa Bay Club Board of Governors Chairman John Wortmann, among others.

Daniel Ward, of Corona del Mar High School, who headed to Cornell University in New York to pursue a pre-med course of study, received a $20,000 grant. McKenna Archer, a graduate of Newport Harbor High School and a nationally ranked gymnast, also received a $20,000 grant and will pursue her education at Cornell as well.

Two $5,000 awards were granted, one to Jacob Wachman of Estancia High School, who’s headed for Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles with a career goal of entering the entertainment business, and a second grant to Sandra Im, of Costa Mesa High School, who will attend UCLA in the fall.

Also honored at the scholarship reception was Kevin Cox, of Corona del Mar High School, accepting a $5,000 grant named in honor of the late E. Morris Smith under the auspices of the Balboa Bay Club Governor’s Scholarship Award. Samareh Afrasiabi, Sarah Hammarlund, Daniel O’Neil, Michelle Parsons, Lauryn Randall, Alexander Rios and Ethan Simonoff each received $1,000 scholarship awards.

Spotted in the crowd of friends and family were Ken and Anita Lawson, Dona Brantman, Terry Kerley, Dana Hooston, Karen Pierce, Denise and Skip Wachman, Rick and Myrna Blalock, Gini Savage, Bob Howard, Craig and Susan Cox, Donna and Paul Merrigan, Joe Archer, Marilyn and Dave Wooten and Henry Schielein.

Fifteen years ago Beverly Ray Parkhurst, owner of the Balboa Bay Club and Resort, gathered a group of prominent local women, including Gini Robins, Marilyn Wooten, Mary Roosevelt, Loretta Haugen, Marilyn Gust and Nancy Burnett, and brainstormed on how the resort could affect the greater Newport-Mesa community.

The club had always been a family-orientated institution since its founding in 1948 by local citizens including E. Morris Smith.

Smith was a local real estate developer and Lido Isle resident for which the Governor’s Scholarship is named and funded annually by his widow, Ramona Smith, and the Smith children.

It was appropriate to do something for youth, because multiple generations of children had grown up swimming in the bay fronting the Balboa Bay Club and participated in so many social, civic and sports activities throughout their formative years. A scholarship program was the perfect way to complete the life cycle of opportunities for young Balboa Bay Club families and community members.

First, the women organized a club within the club, which has become known as the 1221 Club Ladies Auxiliary named after the street address of the Balboa Bay Club. This social organization was formed to offer opportunities for women in the community who are members of the Balboa Bay Club to interact throughout the year building friendships and donating money to support the scholarship fund.

Second, hotelier Henry Schielein, with a world-famous reputation for promoting charitable cigar dinners for gentlemen, launched the annual Balboa Bay Club Gentlemen’s Smoker and Lobster Clambake on the beach as an annual summer event, which for the past 15 years has drawn a sold-out crowd of gents in blue blazers and white slacks donating a fee of a minimum of $275 for dinner and thousands more raised in live-auction bidding with proceeds earmarked to support the scholarship fund as well.

Between the ladies and the gentlemen, fundraising to date has totaled more than $500,000 supporting a multitude of deserving kids headed for college from the Newport-Mesa school district.

These awards have been granted for the past 15 years based solely on merit. Students receiving the scholarships need not be club members, nor is there any consideration of gender, race, religion, economic or social status, or any other personal affiliation or background.

These scholarships are about academic performance with additional consideration given to community service and athletic participation specifically in regards to the E. Morris Smith student athlete award.

In previous years the scholarships were handed out in conjunction with the annual opening of the season ceremonies at the start of the summer at the Balboa Bay Club’s beach. This year organizers decided not to combine the event with summer activities but rather to keep it more simple, special and dignified at a dinner reception.

The result was a warm and sentimental evening where the students delivered short addresses to the crowd expressing their gratitude for the grants and sharing their dreams for the future. Applause filled the dining room and folks departed the evening with renewed hope that the future is in the hands of capable and optimistic youth.

THE CROWD runs Thursdays and Saturdays.