LAKEPORT >> Twelve Lake County students received the Mendocino College Foundation’s Adopt-A-Fifth Grader Award for 2015. This annual program is designed to motivate young students to start thinking about graduating from high school and attending Mendocino College.
This year’s student recipients were Esteban Mosqueda, Alyssa Gard, Samuel Munoz from Kelseyville Elementary; Robby Harper, Shelby Dodson from Lucerne Elementary; Savannah Petty, Alondra Aguilar from Riviera Elementary; Devon Rabano, Justine Porter, Savannah Williams from Terrace Elementary; Isabel Sanchez, Blaine Rhodes from Upper Lake Elementary.
Representatives from the Lake County Friends of Mendocino College (LCFMC) attended each adopted school’s awards ceremony and presented recipients with a $25 check and a certificate stating that a scholarship in the amount of $1,000 will be awarded when the student obtains a high school diploma and enrolls as a full-time student at Mendocino College for at least one semester. If the student earns a high school diploma but does not enroll at Mendocino College, he or she will receive a $500 award.
Donors generously contribute $700 for each fifth-grade student they “adopt” at one of the elementary schools within the college district. The Foundation then invests the funds at an average return of 7 percent per year which will grow to $1,000 by the time the fifth grader graduates from high school.
“The Foundation believes so strongly in this program that they guarantee the $1,000 scholarship even if the rate of return is lower than the projected 7 percent,” stated Richard Cooper, Foundation President.
This program is made possible due to the generous support of many businesses and community members. Our 2015 donors include Kelseyville Sunrise Rotary Club, Lakeport Rotary, Mendo Lake Credit Union, Lake County Friends of Mendocino College, Mark and Kathy Smith, Judy F. Conard, North Shore Business Association and the Mendocino College Foundation.
For more information about the Mendocino College Foundation or to participate in this program, call 707-467-1018 or visit http://foundation.mendocino.edu/.
