By Sue Pascoe
Editor
About 725 seniors will graduate from Palisades Charter High School this year and more than 90 percent of them will go to college.
Some of these graduates from low-income households will receive full scholarships that include tuition and board, but their parents still must struggle to pay for airfare, clothing, dorm room supplies, books and other necessities.
The PaliHi College Center said that some students even must pay for everything on their own; their parents can’t afford to help. About one-third of Pali’s seniors are on free and reduced-lunch plans, which means the family income for a family of four is less than $31,590.
In March, the News ran an editorial explaining how readers could make a small donation that would then be used to provide gift cards to college-bound students to help cover the financial gap.
Palisades resident and Optimist Club member Don Scott willingly took on the collection and promotion of the “Off to College” fund. Checks went through the Palisades Optimist Foundation (tax ID #95-4706527).
On April 25, Scott said: “I am pleased to announce we have raised $5,100 to be used by the College Center to help students they know who need a little extra money to supplement the other scholarships they are getting.”
The College Center staff will provide a $2,000 scholarship to a single student, and the rest of the money will be used for $100 and $200 Target gift cards for those students with the greatest need.
“We are so grateful,” said Ruth Grubbs.
“There are so many who will benefit from this generous gift.” Over the next few weeks, she will work with the three other college counselors to identify which students will be the recipients of the “bridge” gift.
Scott said, “We especially want to thank those members of the community and the Optimist Club who personally donated to this cause. We want to take our hat off and acknowledge the tremendous work the College Center does for our school. Thank you everyone for a job well done.”
Forty-five Palisades residents answered the call for assistance, including Perry and Methal Akins, Dan Ackerman, Arthur Alper, Douglas and Nathalie Herreman Bagby, Lily Brod, Sumako Cohrs, Kenneth Davis, Larry Damm, Dave Dealey, Richard DeWeese, Arthur Gilbert, Marge Gold, Elliott Gross, Wallace Hastings, Diane Hill, Stuart Kaiser, David Kenwood, Daniel Levin, Jody Margulies, Charles McGlothlin, Wallace Miller, Robert Nelson, Robert Olds, Naidu Permaul, Jed Peters, Marilyn Pecsok, John Peterson, Marco Rufo, Kevin and Kristen Ryan, Andy Sahakian, Peter Scolney, Donald Scott, William Skinner, Billy Snyder, Conrad Solum, James Suhr, Henry Ullerich, Dan Urbach, Rich Wilken, Arnie Wishnick, Lester Wood and Carol Zaher.
You must be logged in to post a comment.