AAUW to award scholarships, Sunday

The Half Moon Bay branch of the American Association of University Women announces its 2011 scholarship winners who will be honored at the organization’s annual May Scholarship Brunch on Saturday, May 21, 2011 at 11 a.m. at the Pillar Ridge Mobile Home Park Community Room. The awards event will include a special tribute to past president Judy Zilber who passed away earlier this year. AAUW awards for service to the branch will also be given.

Tech Trek 2011: Six seventh-grade girls from Cunha Intermediate School will receive full scholarships to attend the 14th annual TECH TREK, a summer science and math camp designed especially for girls entering eighth grade, conducted by the American Association of University Women of California (AAUW-CA) on multiple college campuses around the state. The six Coastside scholarship recipients will join approximately 80 other girls from around the Bay Area, July 17-23, at Stanford University, for a week of workshops in marine biology, biotechnology, astronomy, robotics and more.

The 2011 Tech Trek scholarship winners are:

• Elyse Abramson, Claire Messina, Jacqueline Lopez,
• Emilee Moore, Megan Rodrigues and Emma Reynolds.

The Half Moon Bay branch of AAUW provides the funding for the students and makes the final selection of scholarship campers after an extensive application and interview process.

Half Moon Bay AAUW will also honor three college students, all graduates of Half Moon Bay High School, who will each receive $2,000 awards as they prepare to enter their junior or senior year of higher education. The scholarships are named in memory of past AAUW Half Moon Bay members.

Ivania Portocarerro Scholarship is awarded to:

• Kelly Marie Kaine, who attends UCLA majoring in civil engineering and focusing on structures;
• Natalie Gail Moyce, who also attends UCLA majoring in global studies with an emphasis on political journalism and music.

Edna Cox Scholarship is awarded to: Maira Sarabia-Medina who studies at California State University, East Bay, majoring in liberal studies with a teaching emphasis and a minor in American Sign Language.

Year-round fundraising efforts make these awards possible. Monies are raised through events that include the Pumpkin Festival, a concert at the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, a Fashion Show and High Tea held recently at the Oceano Hotel and Spa, and through individual donations by members.

AAUW is a national organization founded in 1881 with a mission of “advancing equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, philanthropy and research.”