The Rowland Unified School District is very proud of the Class of 2018 which will walk the stage on Thursday, June 7 at 5 p.m. This past week there have been ceremonies to honor our many accomplished seniors for their various scholarships and awards.
Nogales Senior Honors Night
The Nogales Gym was packed as families came to celebrate Senior Honors Night on May 30. Congratulations to the many seniors who were honored that evening for their achievements including community scholarships and school awards. Pictured above: Nogales Principal Yousef Nasouf poses with students before entering the ceremony.
Samantha Munoz, Nogales Noble Female Scholar of the Year. "I want to say that the Nogales Band and Colorguard program taught me determination and I am grateful for that experience and the ability to express myself through that artform." Samantha will attend UC Santa Barbara to study Psychology to become a marriage and family counselor.
The Bergslien family has given more than 60 years of service to RUSD -- starting with Lester Bergslien as a District Librarian in 1962, and his son Gordon Bergslien who has worked for the past 37 years in RUSD. To commemorate his retirement, the family is giving a scholarship to a senior student who has been involved in many programs close to the Bergsliens' hearts, including Colorguard, Senior Seminar (a program Mrs. Bergslien helped create) and AVID. Star student Yaira Alvarez was awarded the scholarship, pictured with Gordon Bergslien and his daughter Kristie.
Ms. Terry Perkins from the Walnut Valley Women's Club awards Carrie Shieh their annual scholarship for a top scholar student who resides in the City of Walnut. Carrie will be attending University of California, Irvine, and majoring in Nursing/Health Science.
Miguel Carrillo accepted the Miriam Kim Scholarship ( Pictured with Ms. Kim ) for outstanding student achievement for a student who attended Telesis Academy of Science & Math. He will be attending Mt. San Antonio College to pursue a career in Fire Science and transfer to Cal State Los Angeles.

Throughout the evening Mildred Mayorga stepped to the stage for numerous awards, including the Sylvia B. Stella Memorial Scholarship and for being an Alexander Hamilton Scholar, one of the most prestigious fellowships in the United States. As an Alexander Hamilton scholar, she spent last summer in New York City, attending lectures from Ivy League professors and receiving advice from admissions officers at top US colleges. Her experience paid off, as she was accepted to many colleges and will attend Wellesley College in the Fall.
Jeein Kim (accepted to UC Irvine) and Milena Aragon (heading to UCLA) were awarded the Schools First Credit Union scholarship. Recipients were selected by senior teachers for their positive attitudes and willingness to go the extra mile in and out of the classroom.
Nogales Male Athlete of the Year, Andrew Carrazco , who reached CIF finals in football, soccer and then won the 300 hurdles and placed 5th at CIF for Track. "I have played sports all my life and having people acknowledge my work and that my effort is paying off means so much to me." Andrew will be attending Santa Ana College in the Fall.
Alexander Hamilton Scholar Mildred Mayorga on her way to Wellesley College, a private women's liberal arts college west of Boston in Massachusetts.
Nogales High School First General Bank Scholarship Winners
College tuition and expenses are soaring, but thanks to support from First General Bank, five RUSD seniors (three from Nogales High School above) have earned $1,000 scholarships to help make their college dreams a reality.  “We created the First General Bank scholarship to provide financial assistance for higher education expenses for Rowland Unified high school seniors in need who have demonstrated academic excellence, leadership and community involvement,” said Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Wilson C. Mach, who is also on the RUSD scholarship selection committee. He is pictured with the following Nogales High School recipients ( left to right ) Alex Joseph Moreno , who plans to attend University of California, Irvine, to major in the field of Nursing Science. Benjamin Filio will attend Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, where he plans to study law and pursue an undergraduate degree in international relations or political science. Mildred Mayorga has been accepted to Wellesley College and plans to major in the field of premed or political science.

Other scholarship award recipients (not pictured) are Eric Burton from Rowland High School (who plans to attend Chapman University to major in Business/Finance) and Natalie Ceballos from Santana High School (who plans to attend Citrus College to major in teaching or social work.)
Santana Senior Breakfast
This morning the Santana Class of 2018 gathered for a special Senior Breakfast where scholarships and awards were presented.

"This class is a very special class because these students worked very hard their junior and senior year, you could see the fire in them as they kept bringing in the credits," said Counselor Paulo Duran. "I was always pushing them hard and I will always have a special place in my heart for them. There is no other place I'd rather be than impacting students here at Santana High School."

Issak Aguilera was presented the Association of Rowland Educators Scholarship. "I had a really great experience here at Santana, I felt I was able to connect and get my grades done faster here. I plan to attend a community college and go into electrical engineering," said Aguilera.

Pictured Left: Santana Counselor Paulo Duran and Isaak Aguilera.
Sujeily Bombela (pictured below right with fellow student Katie Chen ) was awarded the Teri and Dave Malkin Humanitarian Scholarship. "My experience was quite amazing here at Santana," said Bombela. "Students are closer than ever and the ways teachers connect with you on a different level, it helps you understand the classes and courses and get your credits for graduation. It's a great school in general. I plan to transfer to UC Santa Cruz or attend the Art Institute."
Guillermina Velasquez (pictured above) was the PTA Ada May Scholarship winner.

"The teachers here are so helpful and really want to make sure we graduate and see that we do bigger and better things with our lives," said Guillermina . " I never thought I would graduate as a teen mom, but here I am! I'm currently enrolled at Mt.SAC to be a certified nursing assistant and plan to go back to school to become a teacher."
Rowland Senior Awards Night
National Merit Commended students, Semi-Finalist and Finalist students honored at the Rowland High School Senior Awards Night on June 4. Below is National Merit Finalist Michelle Liang. (Other finalist not pictured is Keilyn Chin).
It was an evening of celebration as the top students of Rowland High School's Class of 2018 were recognized at Senior Awards Night. The National Merit Scholarship Program is an annual academic competition for recognition and college undergraduate scholarships. The competition is open to all US high school students who meet published participation requirements.  1.6 million high school students who took the PSAT/NMSQT in October 2016 and met other program participation requirements entered the 2018 competition for National Merit Program recognition and scholarships. In February 2018, Semifinalists who met academic and other requirements were notified that they advanced to Finalist standing. From the 15,000 students who were chosen, two Rowland High School students advanced as Finalists: Michelle Liang (pictured above) and Keilyn Chin . Congratulations to Rowland High School's Semifinalist Michael Yu , as well as the National Merit Commended students: Matthew Cho, Daryn Lee, Thomas Lee, Mikaela Lim, Stephen Raymon Sy, Catherine Tang, Katherine Tsai and Ryan Zhang.
Rowland High School Athletics Director Ralph Harris is retiring this year after 41 years of service to RHS. He presented this year's Scholar Athletes of the Year awards to Jason Vuong (Tennis, headed to Cal Poly Pomona) and Jade Morris (Cross Country and Track, accepted to UC Santa Barbara).
The Leo Agredano Jr. Memorial Scholarship is awarded to students who have excelled in the face of adversity. This year's recipients from Rowland High School are Nina Foyabo , who will be attending the University of La Verne and Diego Charco (not present).
The Sylvia Stella Memorial Award (presented by son-in-law and RHS teacher Jon Hiett on behalf of the family) is a $2,000 scholarship for two-years. This year's recipient is Desiree Tabizon who will be attending CSU San Jose.
This year David and Teri Malkin were able to offer an additional $500 scholarship to a Rowland High School student on behalf of their son Mathew Malkin, RHS Alumni from '96. The Malkin Humanitarian Scholarship supports students who have a passion to pursue a career helping others and that demonstrate leadership capacity through school and community service. Pictured above: This year's scholarship recipients from Rowland High School Derrick Leong, Samantha Phillips and Erica Yan.
Senior Seminar students from the Patient Care/Education & Child Development and Engineer & Architect Pathways.
AVID student Howard Park accepts the first Baumunk Scholarship from Rowland High School Math Teacher Craig Baumunk, who is retiring after 47 years of service!
Two iconic Rowland High School math teachers are retiring this year, Yuri Koyfman (who arrived 2000) and Craig Baumunk , who has taught for 47 years!

This year with his retirement, Craig Baumunk and his wife Sandy started a scholarship for an AVID student. This year's recipient is Howard Park , who has been accepted to Massachussets College of Pharmacy and Health Science.
Mr. Koyfman presents the Michael Koyfman Memorial Scholarship to
Diana Ma, who is headed to MIT.
Samay Nathani (Rowland Council PTA Ada May Warner Scholarship winner, pictured with Mr. Koyfman) shares, "My favorite part of being at Rowland High School was definitely bonding with my teacher Mr. Koyfman, he really helped me develop a passion for calculus and higher math and he will be missed." Samay will be attending Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to major in Software Engineering.
June 6, 2018 Issue Questions? Contact RUSD News Editor gward@rowlandschools.org
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