Kiwanis awards dinner celebrates $198,000 in scholarships
Thirteen students received scholarships collectively worth $198,000 from the Cape Coral Kiwanis Foundation at its Scholarship Awards Dinner Wednesday.
The scholarships recognized their service within the community and their hard work and dedication.
Awards winners are:
• Naissa Esperance — Bishop Verot High School
• Elizabeth Keijl — Cape Coral High School
• Nicholas Rodriguez — Cape Coral High School
• Alexander Dingerson — Ida S. Baker High School, Florida SouthWestern State College
• Ethan Quick — Island-Coast High School
• Alison Calle — Island Coast High School
• Lim Nong — Island Coast High School
• Mingwei Chen -Island Coast High School
• Amanda Echevarria Romero — Island Coast High School
• Olivia Arevalo — North Fort Myers High School
• Darien Brown — North Fort Myers High School
• Tyler Feichthaler — Oasis Charter High School
• Janelle Octavien — Oasis Charter High School
Scholarship Committee Member Vanessa Silva introduced each candidate and expressed her gratitude to community members who have stayed involved with the club.
“I want to thank some of the volunteers from our thrift stores who are here today. This is what it’s about when you volunteer. It gives back to our community and allows the Kiwanis Club to do these types of events and give back to our community and the children in our community,” Silva said.
“So every year, we do three endowments and, as I said previously, the sales group source helps us, and this year, we’re awarding ($198,000) in scholarships,” she added.
Each honoree was presented with a scholarship and got the opportunity to discuss their involvement with volunteering and what they would like to pursue in their future endeavors. These recipients received various scholarships that will remain as long as they meet the requirements provided by their colleges.
One of these scholarships was the James C. and Madeline K. Hole scholarships, founded in 1996, which provides recipients $14,000 over four years. Requirements include being a resident for one year within application deadlines and standing well in one of Cape Coral’s sponsored key clubs. The recipient must also obtain an overall unweighted GPA of 3.5 and above at the time of their application, demonstrate financial need, and show evidence of leadership in school.
One of these recipients was Olivia Arevalo from North Fort Myers High School, who had 163 volunteer hours.
“Hello, everyone, I will be majoring in special education so I can come back to Lee County and be a special ed teacher,” said Arevalo
Another recipient was Nicholas Rodriguez from Cape Coral High School, who volunteered more than 109 hours.
“I’ll be going to UCF for mechanical engineering. And then we’ll see where life goes from there, but I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for making this happen for me and my parents for supporting me throughout the whole process. Thank you,” Rodriguez said.
As the ceremony went on, many shared their aspirations, from Janelle Octavien, who wants to be a biomedical engineer and also plans to work under doctors to help third-world countries, to Lim Nong, who plans to continue working within his community and will attend the University of Florida, majoring in finance and pursuing a combination degree in master of supply chain management.
Tyler Feichthaler from Oasis High School received the Ackerman Scholarship, a scholarship established 20 years ago by a member of the scholarship committee, which gives Feichthaler a total of $16,000, with $4,000 being given out each year. Feichthaler also served his community with 350 volunteer hours.
“So with all those hours in all these wonderful young faces that you see here, they’ve completed a total of over 2613 hours that they have given to our community, and it’s something that not only shows leadership but shows dedication and appreciation to their community. So we hope that the community can show the same to you as you venture in your new novel,” Silva said.
The Kiwanis Club allows not only high school students to become a part of volunteering, but also middle school students with their “Builder Clubs” and elementary school students with their “K Kids.”
The biggest thing is teaching them right. You give to your community because we live here. This is where you live, and giving back is fantastic, and they do these kids. You know, there are events we have that if it weren’t for the kids, it wouldn’t be possible,” Silva said.
The Kiwanis Club was founded in 1962 and has been expanding ever since. Its goal is to help the community and give students an opportunity to get involved while learning leadership skills from their peers.
Eric Feichthaler thanked the Kiwanis members and all the families of scholarship winners for their contributions to the community.
“I would like to thank all the volunteers and members of our club, as well as those at the Kiwanis thrift stores. How many of you have been in one of our thrift stores in the past few months? The store going on 47th Terrace and the North stores on Del Prado are very close down the road. I tell you they have done an incredible job making those stores beautiful and great merchandise for a great price,” Feichthaler said. “We’re benefiting the community that is providing that service and at the same time making funds to pay for all the programs that we have, like our grants and like this scholarship program. So again, thank you to all those who volunteer. I know many of our club members do, and for those of you who would like to spend a couple of hours a week in our stores.
Students can become involved with Kiwanis by joining their local key club or volunteering at the Kiwanis thrift shops.
To reach JOHNATHAN MINEHAN, please email news@breezenewspapers.com