Metro District's Top Scholarship Winners Place First at State
Metro District Elk's top scholarship winners, Kama Bell and Riley Protz, both
from Gresham High
School, placed first at the Oregon State Elks Most Valuable
Student (MVS) Scholarship contest held in Seaside
Oregon on January 8, 2011. Their scholarship applications will be
forwarded to the Elks National Foundation in Chicago to compete in the National MVS
Scholarship contest. They are both
eligible to receive at least $4,000 in the National contest and have the opportunity
to win a four-year scholarship worth $60,000 ($15,000 per year). The National scholarship winners will be
notified by April 15th. Good
luck Kama and Riley!!
Kama Bell
She placed first in the local, district and
state Elks MVS scholarship contests and will receive at least $9,500 in
scholarship awards.
Kama has a 4.0 GPA and has maintained this GPA throughout
her high school years. She has also
completed courses in the Chinese Language at PSU and Spanish Language at Mt
Hood Community College. Kama is an accomplished saxophone musician currently
playing with the Gresham High School Jazz Band 1, Jazz Combo, Wind Symphony and
Pep Band. She is also a member of the
American Music Program and the Alan Jones Academy of Music. Kama was
awarded a full tuition scholarship to the 2010 Berklee College of Music 5 week
summer program and also has been awarded a renewable four-year scholarship to
attend Berklee.
Riley Protz
He placed first in the local, district and
state Elks scholarship contests and will receive at least $9,500 in scholarship
awards.
Riley has a 4.0 GPA and has
maintained this GPA throughout his high school years. He has completed many courses at Mt Hood Community
College and is working towards a full International Baccalaureate Diploma. He devotes a lot of time to community service
work with TOPSoccer and AMIGOS de las Americas. Riley and his mother started a TOPSoccer
program in Gresham
so local special needs children could play soccer. With AMIGOS de las Americas,
Riley spent several months raising about $4,000 to travel this last summer to
Tabara Arriba, a remote mountainside community in the Dominican Republic. While there, he helped organize fundraisers
to help the community build a canal to divert a mountain stream into a river to
lessen flooding. He also taught children
how to play a sport he loves and excels in - Soccer.
2010
Two MetroStudentsWinElksState Scholarships
Gabrielle Walti Samuel Box
Gabrielle
Walti from LibertyHigh School, sponsored by Hillsboro Elks Lodge
and Samuel Box from SamBarlowHigh
School sponsored by Gresham Elks Lodge won
first place awards at the state level in the annual Most Valuable Student
contest conducted by the Elks National Foundation.The judging and awards were presented January
9, 2010 at the Keizer Elks Lodge.
Both
of these students won $2,200 for placing first at the State contest, $1,600 for
placing first at the District contest, $4,000 from the Elks National Foundation
and additional local Lodge scholarship money.
Congratulations also to Rachel
Seeman, GrantHigh
School, sponsored by Gateway Elks Lodge for having her
application, along with Gabby and Sam, to be one of the seventeen from Oregon that will go to
the ENF for further judging. She placed second at the District level
winning a $1,400 from the Oregon State Elks Association. All students are in the running for a $60,000
scholarship.
Nathan W Hadley from HillsboroHigh School
was second place at District in the males category.Third place District awards of $1,200 went to
Cara C Sandels of SouthridgeHigh School and Ethan D Alton, of ForestGroveHigh School.
