By Felicia Keg
The event that students worked hard towards and have waited for for months, has officially arrived and ultimately came to an end. This is Minaret’s exhilarating, senior scholarship night!! This event happens yearly at Minarets High School to highlight students who applied and won scholarship awards for their academic achievements and dedication. This year, 25 seniors' hard work had paid off after weeks prior, preparing and gathering educational documents, as well as submitting essays that were asked of them. Soon after, they lined up in the Minarets High School gym with a full buffet of sweet treats and fruit and plenty of tables for family and supporters.
Anastasia Salazar was one of the many students that had won various awards. She came to a total of 8 awards with $5,250 going towards her education! She first found out she had won one of the teacher education awards when they contacted her family shortly before the official invites were sent out from Minarets to students. She had many family members to support her as she said her Mom, Dad, Aunt, and Uncle all came, and her Mom acted the most supportive, “Right after the ceremony was over we took a bunch of pictures outside.” Her family and her were all very proud of this achievement. We hope her education and achievements towards becoming a teacher enlighten more considering teachers!
Another high-award winner this night was Acacia Edeluchel. She won nine awards that night leading her to a rough estimation of at least $6,000. Her focus was mainly on natural resources and nature-based scholarships for all of the hard work she has put into education in the natural sciences. When asked about her reaction to winning her many awards she stated, “I felt really proud and just excited and honored to have all of those scholarships because I worked very hard and it was really rewarding to see all of it pay off. With her involvement in forestry, natural sciences focus, FFA as well as her extensive application she worked hard to qualify for these scholarships, and the work she has put in has been recognized!
Next, we have a student who won numerous awards including the $10,000 Ducoff Award: Madison Mikkelsen! She applied for nine awards this year and was awarded five. Madison’s scholarships are estimated to be $13,000; she is going to use that money towards her general college education as well as additional art pathways in her education. When asked how she felt about winning these awards she stated, “Insanely grateful, because that was one of the biggest awards that was there, I also thought it was awesome that Ryu got to get it too.” When asked about who came to support her and what their reactions were she said, “My mom, my Sister, and my Grandma, all came to support me and they were all in shock, they were happy for me.” Maddie has set an impressive example for hopeful art students at minarets!
Overall the tradition of Senior Scholarship Night was a great success and allowed a total of $81,100 to be given out to students to further their education. Hard work and dedication pay off and these kids and their awards show for it.
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