Six Fairfax High graduating seniors recently received college scholarships from the Rotary Club of Fairfax. Because of the pandemic, they received them via email and the winners’ names were announced at a club Zoom meeting.
Many of the grads will be the first in their families to attend college. And Verne Tuininga, the club’s New Generations/Youth Services committee chair, was impressed with the students’ quest for academic excellence and focus on community service.
For example, the Paul J. Brown Community Service Award went to Kevin Chen. He formed a nonprofit STEM teaching service, volunteered at Walter Reed Medical Center and raised money to send Fairfax High athletes to competitions. (Brown was a former Fairfax City businessman and Rotarian).
The other scholarship recipients were:
Temujin Choijilsvren - Pat Laing Memorial Scholarship (Laing was Fairfax High’s former athletic director and a Rotarian);
Meghana Kamineni - Fairfax Rotary Memorial Scholarship;
Anny Chen - Setty Family scholarship (Bogi Setty is a longtime Rotarian);
Christian Segovia - Pathways scholarship to Northern Virginia Community College;
Nerissa Leonardo - Pathways Scholarship to Northern Virginia Community College.