The Connection

The Greenspring retirement community in Springfield held its annual scholars awards ceremony on Wednesday, May 29.

In 1999 Greenspring established the Scholars’ Fund, which provides scholarships to local high school students who have worked in various dining services capacities at the retirement community. In addition to receiving a wage, students may be eligible for scholarships paid directly to the college or professional school of each student’s choice.

The awards ceremony was held at the community’s Village Square Theatre. After a welcoming by Executive Director Robin

Gliboff, Del. Vivian Watts (D-39) made brief remarks congratulating students and thanking those who made the scholarships possible. Following this was the presentation of the C.N.A. Educational Scholarship to Regina Wilson, an employee at Greenspring. Next was the presentation of the Steve and Renie Guback Scholarship to Matthew Kaufax, a graduating senior at Thomas A. Edison High School.

The Guback Scholarship is a $5,000 one-year award to a student planning to study in the field of communication.

Greenspring resident Steve Guback has donated $100,000 for the establishment of the community’s first endowed scholarship. Guback, who is a former award-winning sportswriter with The Washington Evening Star, has lived at Greenspring since 2009. Guback was awarded the Ernie Pyle Scholarship when he attended Indiana University at Bloomington. “The scholarship at Indiana helped to launch my career as a sportswriter,” said Guback. “I realize how much that helped me so I’ve always been trying to repay that back as much as I can.”

Another speaker at the event was Mark Greenfelder, West Springfield High School principal. “When I was asked to speak tonight, I couldn’t believe the number of students being honored and the amount they were being honored with,” said Greenfelder. “Because of your generosity, you’re allowing another generation to follow their dreams and reach their goals. … There is a lot of hope for our future.”

Before the presentation of the awards, Dr. Clint Lambert, president of the Greenspring Resident Council gave a message addressed to the scholarship awardees. “Take advantage of the scholarship, and gain as much as you can from it,” said Lambert. “The world is awaiting your input.”

This year, $200,000 was donated to the Scholars’ Fund by residents, resident clubs and staff members at Greenspring. Due to these donations, this is the first year that students were eligible for $10,000 scholarships; four years ago, the scholarship amount was increased from $4,000 to $6,000 per student. Since the establishment of the Scholars’ Fund at Greenspring, the community has come together to raise nearly $1.5 million for student scholarships.

2013 Greenspring Scholars

Twenty graduating high school students were awarded scholarship funds this year. The 2013 scholars include:

Junaid Ahmed from Robert E. Lee High School

Mariam Bayat from Robert E. Lee High School

Valeria Barco Saenz from Woodbridge Senior High School

Heran Beniam from Hayfield Secondary School

Shaniqua Burhans from West Springfield High School

Jesle Choi from South County High School

Mayra Cruz from Robert E. Lee High School

Michelle Jose from Robert E. Lee High School

Brett Nelson from Robert E. Lee High School

Jessica Oo from Lake Braddock High School

Sudhanshu Patyal from Hayfield Secondary School

Alex Pinto from South County High School

Kenneth Roland from Robert E. Lee High School

Salem Solomon from Robert E. Lee High School

Meronne Teklu from West Springfield High School

Tracy Tranchi from West Springfield High School

Saurabh Verma from Hayfield Secondary High School

Meley Woldetatios from Robert E. Lee High School

Mercedes Zettlemayer from West Springfield High School

Zhou Zhou from Lake Braddock High School

Additional information about Greenspring can be found at www.ericksonliving.com.