Berea Rotary’s annual Scholarship Awards Dinner was June 25 in BW’s Colony Café. Six scholarship recipients and their families attended the dinner and one Zoomed in. The dinner was catered by BW Food Service. In-person students received their scholarship checks. The others will be sent checks by mail. Many thanks to Marc West for setting this up.
Our scholarship students are, from the left, Clara Olexa, Mikala Minerd, Anthony Comer II, Emma Carver, Jordyn Maddox and Griffin Boyer.
Mikala Minerd, Class of 2020: Mikala graduated from Mount Vernon Nazarene University in May with a degree in education. This fall, she will begin teaching kindergarten at Bethany Christian Academy in Parma. She is a former RYLA camper.
Theresa Candow, Class of 2021: Theresa zoomed in from Western Carolina University where she is spending the summer. Theresa is majoring in health management with an emphasis on EMT/paramedic training. She was an honor graduate of Polaris Career Center in the EMT program. This summer, she is working as a lifeguard.
Anthony J. Comer II, Class of 2021: Anthony will be a senior at John Carroll University this fall, majoring in exercise science. He recovered from a brain tumor several years ago and credited long sessions in physical therapy with helping him to resume his studies. His aim is to help others recover from trauma and illness as well. This summer, he is interning at St. Ignatius High School as a strength and conditioning coach.
Emma Carver, Class of 2022: Emma is studying communications at Bowling Green State University. She plans to enter public relations when she graduates. She was elected president of Alpha Zeta Delta sorority and is an active member of the Student Public Relations Society of America. She attended a leadership conference in North Carolina where she said she “learned a lot about myself.”
Griffen Boyer, Class of 2023: Griffen is studying education at Baldwin Wallace University, concentrating on grades 6-12 education. This past year, he spent 15 hours in a classroom in the Parma School District and said he “enjoyed interacting with the students.” He ran track and cross country at Berea-Midpark High School and is continuing to train this summer for the steeplechase race, which involves hurdles and a 2-mile run.
Jordyn Maddox, Class of 2024: Jordyn will study business at Ashland University. She has been accepted into Ashland’s Honors Program. Jordyn was our RYLA camper in 2023. She was the head football and basketball cheerleader at Berea-Midpark High School and hopes to continue with cheering at Ashland.
Clara Olexa, Class of 2024: Clara will study accounting at Bowling Green State University this fall. She was a baking and pastry arts student at Polaris Career Center.
Students who were unable to attend the scholarship dinner
Bridgett Bartlett, Class of 2022: Bridgett is majoring in Early Childhood Education/Deaf Education at Penn West Edinboro University in Pennsylvania. She sent us a synopsis of her year.
“I had a great year. I was a tour guide and was able to become an aide in autistic support classrooms for local schools, which was an amazing experience. I also took as many opportunities to try new things throughout the semester. I helped at a children’s tent during the eclipse. I went skydiving and I was able to connect more with the Edinboro community.”
Lance Lease, Class of 2024: Lance has a summer job painting houses and was unable to attend the dinner. He will study engineering at Cleveland State University this fall.