By VERNON ROBISON
Moapa Valley Progress
More than $112,000 in scholarships have been awarded to members of the Moapa Valley High School graduating class of 2018 to help the students in their next educational endeavors. These were awarded on the evening of May 9 during the school’s Senior Awards Night held in the Ron Dalley Theatre.
About $80,000 in the total scholarships awarded were donated by local families, businesses and groups.
“It was a great year for local scholarships!” said MVHS College/Career Center Specialist Connie Robertson. “It was an exceptionally strong showing from local donors; the most we have had in a long time. I’ve been in this position for three years and this year is the most that we have seen in that time.”
The scholarship portion of the program began with the Grant M. Bowler Pursuit of Excellence Award, established by the family of the former MVHS principal to honor the student with the highest combined total of extracurricular activity points and grade point average. The winner of the $1000 award was Baleigh Bond, with a runner up award of $200 going to Sedona Thomas.
MVT President Brad Lyon presented the John & Mary Louise Christian Memorial Scholarship of $2,000 to Joshua Lee. Lyon also awarded two Nevada Telecommunications Association Scholarships of $1000 each to Emma Thompson and Macey Morgan.
Carolyn Marshall then announced the winner of the $500 Lysha Marshall Memorial Scholarship to Aaron Brandon.
Kelly McCafferty presented four $1000 scholarship awards from America First Credit Union to Jessica Leon, Gustavo Moreno, Autumn Morrow and Eden Whitmore.
The Moapa Valley Rotary Club Scholarships for $2000 each went to Bailey Bunker, Garrett German, Charity Manis and Gustavo Moreno.
From the Anderson Family Trust Scholarship came an award of $2,000 to Tatyana Bullock and $1,000 to Sierra Harding.
The Moapa Valley Booster Club awarded eight $500 scholarships to Bailey Bunker, Kessa Evans, Dannika Gordon, Sierra Harding, Lillian Leavitt, Rylee May (which was designated as the Brent May Scholarship), Aria Messer and Shelbi Walker.
The Overton Power District awarded eight scholarships of $1000 each that went to Blakey Anderson, Bailey Bunker, Sierra Harding, Gavin Henrie, Gustavo Moreno, Macy Morgan, Sedona Thomas and Eden Whitmore.
The Boyd Applegate Memorial Scholarships went to Brooklyn Leavitt and William Dalley. The Phil and Calvin Long Scholarship was awarded to Tyler Holmes and Hanna Basket. The Lee Bishop Memorial Scholarships went to Autumn Causey, Dannika Gordon, Lillian Leavitt, Sara Goodrich, Mariah Mendoza, Shelbi Walker and Joshua Lee.
The MV Arts Council awarded a $750 scholarship to Emma Thompson. And the Clark County Farm Bureau presented $500 scholarships to Tatyana Bullock, Gavin Henrie, Shelbi Walker and Logan O’Toole. O’Toole also was presented with the MVHS Ag Educational Scholarship. He also received the Wes Adams Memorial Scholarship along with Tatyanba Bullock, Bailey Bunker and Gavin Henrie. The Darrell & Arlene Waite Family Scholarship went to Ethan Smedley.
Rachel Paice, the manager of the McDonald’s of Moapa Valley presented $500 awards to Autumn Causey, Santiago Carranco and Aubrie Waite.
Barry Boss, son of McDonald’s owner Dave Price, presented a scholarship on behalf of the Ronald McDonald House Charities Greater Las Vegas to Sedona Thomas. This award was for $1,000, but Price had matched that amount in memory of Andrea Boss-Jensen, his daughter who recently passed away. This made it a total of a $2,000 scholarship.
The Lin’s Marketplace Scholarship was presented by store manager Darin Leach to Kelldan Cooper for $1000.
Four students received scholarship awards from the Smith Lynne Charities. These included Noe Lopez ($2500), Bailey Jackson ($1000), Alysa Jensen ($1000) and Gustavo Moreno ($1000). These were presented by charity founders Christina Earon and Mitch Smith.
MV Art Guild President Annetta Romero presented $1000 scholarships to Chappelle Kent, Brooklyn Leavitt, Kennedy Postma and Mercinia Potts.
The George W. Turner Memorial Scholarship of $1000 was awarded to Gustavo Moreno, Rylee May and
Aria Messer. The “You Deserve It” Scholarship of $1000 was awarded to Emma Thompson. The Karen Alsum Insurance Scholarship, also $1000, was presented to Blakey Anderson.
An award of $1500 was given to six seniors from the Carson Family Scholarship. These included Zach Anderson, Baleigh Bond, Kessa Evans, Hailee Heiselbetz, Kristina Jorgensen and Rylee May.
The MVHS National Honor Society recognized two of its graduating seniors with scholarship awards. These included Emma Thompson for $300 and Bailey Bunker for $200. In connection with this, Harry Shade of United Blood Services was present to award scholarships to the same two students for their dedication in planning and promoting National Honor Society blood drives in the community.
Their efforts were so successful, that Shade also presented a special plaque to MVHS Principal Hal Mortensen for coming in first place in blood drives for the UBS Division D.
The Robison/Sandoval Memorial Baseball Scholarship was presented by Lori Sandoval to Chase Guesman for $1000.
Sara Ritner of the Public Education Foundation (PEF) gave a brief presentation explaining that on May 4, the PEF had held its awards ceremony luncheon in Las Vegas. No less than 10 MVHS seniors were presented with 13 various scholarships. These awards totalled more than $32,000, she said. Recipients included Gustavo Moreno, Eden Whitmore, Emma Thompson, Tyler Holmes, Sedona Thomas, Bailey Bunker, Sierra Harding, Garrett German, Autumn Causey and Israel Rubio.
Academic awards were also given at the event. These included Student Council recognitions, Athletes of the Year, MVHS Spanish awards, Science Awards, and Math Awards.
A new award, the Mutual Fund Scholarship, was awarded to Logan Jackson for $200.
Advanced Studies/Photography Scholarships of $750 each were awarded to Brooklyn Leavitt and Kennedy Postma.
The ‘M’ Powered Award was earned by Zachary Anderson, Baleigh Bond, Sierra Harding, Tyler Holmes, Lillian Leavitt, Aria Messer, Gustavo Moreno, Macy Morgan, Logan O’Toole, Sedona Thomas, Emma Thompson and Eden Whitmore. A drawing was held to determine the winner of two $500 scholarships. The money went to Leavitt and O’Toole.
Connie Robertson pointed out that this was the first year that local scholarship donors could work through the Moapa Valley Educational Foundation (MVEF) to administer their scholarship funds. A total of sixteen local scholarship donors used the Foundation to distribute funding for its first year of operation.
“All of the donors who had been using the school banker to administer their funds came over to the local Foundation,” said Robertson, who also sits on the board of the MVEF. “We even had a few new donors this year that we hadn’t seen before.”
“That is why the Foundation was established,” Robertson added. “We wanted to give a local option to the local donors. We felt like it was good to keep things in the community.”
Donors interested in donating to further the education of Moapa Valley High School graduating seniors, or to help with other educational programs among the four local schools, may contact Connie Robertson at Moapa Valley high School for more information.
