Menlo Park Rotary Club              

Rotary is a worldwide organization of 1.2 million members in 32,000 clubs in more than 200 countries. All Rotarians subscribe to the motto Service Above Self which guides them in their many community service projects. The Menlo Park Rotary Club has about 80 members and supports numerous local organizations with funding and volunteers. The club is also the lead organizer of a major project in Guatemala. Click here for more information.

Menlo Park Rotary awards $72,000 in scholarships  

Seventeen seniors from local high schools received $67,000 in scholarships from the Rotary Club of Menlo Park on June 10 in ceremonies at the club's regular meeting. All the students have been accepted into four-year colleges, including Berkeley, Santa Clara, USC and the University of the Pacific in the west to Smith, Brown and Williams College in the east. The Rotary grants ranged from $2,000 to $5,000 and are given directly to the colleges to pay for tuition and other expenses. A few weeks earlier, the club awarded $15,000 in scholarships to 10 students who will attend local community colleges. The winning students received grants of $1,000 or $2,000 and were identified by school counselors, who passed their recommendations on to a Rotary scholarship committee.

Photo by Veronica Weber/The Almanac Students awarded scholarships by the Rotary Club of Menlo Park are, from left, front row: Claudia Norton, Leslie Arroyo, Andrew Cruz, Khevna Mehta, Victoria Vargas and Uriel Hernandez. Back row: Decatur Phiania Macpherson, Stephanie Noriega, Molly Murphy, Jabari Perry, Seamus Clerkin, Gabriel Cervantes, Michael Rodriquez and Deepak Charan.

To qualify for the four-year college scholarships, students submitted a lengthy written application that included their academic record, community service and financial need, and then were interviewed by a Rotary committee, which selected the winning candidates. 

Twenty-six students from Menlo-Atherton, Sacred Heart, Eastside Preparatory and East Palo Alto Charter high schools applied. The students live in Menlo Park, Redwood City, and East Palo Alto. Many worked outside the home to support themselves and some attended summer enrichment programs at local or out-of-town colleges. 

A number of the scholarships are named in honor of past and current Rotary club members, including John D. Russell, Robert Paroli, Ormand and Doris Rector, Arthur Flegel, the Tsui/Tsiang family and Drue Kataoka. A business and professional scholarship is underwritten by numerous local businesses.

Scholarship winners

Here are the students who received Rotary scholarships to either four-year or community colleges:

Gabriel Cervantes, Eastside Prep, will major in business administration at Williams College. 

Claudia Norton, Sacred Heart, will major in international relations at Brown University. 

Seamas Clerkin, Sacred Heart, will major in electrical engineering at USC. 

Jabari Perry, Eastside Prep, will major in English at Carleton College. 

Deepak Charan, East Palo Alto Academy, will major in business and computer science at Cal State East Bay. 

Adriana Huerta, Menlo-Atherton, will major in psychology or business administration at Santa Clara. 

Khevna Mehta, Menlo-Atherton, will major in chemistry at UC Davis. 

Uriel Hernandez, Menlo-Atherton, will major in medicine and biology at Middlebury College. 

Stephanie Noriega, Eastside Prep, will major in psychology and theology at St. Mary's College. 

Phiania Decatur Macpherson, Sacred Heart, will major in romance languages at Smith College. 

Juan Sandoval, Sacred Heart, will major in business at the University of the Pacific. 

Leslie Arroyo, East Palo Alto Academy, will major in criminal justice at Whittier College. 

Andrew Cruz, Eastside Prep, will major in civil engineering at the University of the Pacific. 

Paola Tovar, Menlo-Atherton, will major in math, science at UC Merced. 

Michael Rodriguez, Eastside Prep, will major in mechanical engineering, college undecided. 

Molly Murphy, Menlo-Atherton, will study art at the Parsons School of Design in New York City. 

Estella Gonzalez, East Palo Alto Academy, will study pediatric nursing at the College of San Mateo. 

Paola Solano, East Palo Alto Academy, will study dentistry at the College of San Mateo. 

Andanita Kushboo, Menlo-Atherton, will study to be a dental technician at the College of San Mateo. 

David Council, Menlo-Atherton, will study physical therapy at Foothill College. 

Jose Mayen, Menlo-Atherton, will study environmental science at Canada College. 

Saydi Ramos, Menlo-Atherton, will study banking at Canada College. 

Cheri Slightam, Menlo-Atherton, will study nursing/teaching at Canada College. 

Sabrina Hamade, Menlo-Atherton, is undecided and will attend Foothill College. 

Jorge Tejeda, Menlo-Atherton, will study psychology at Canada College. 

Stephanie Keith, Menlo-Atherton, will study English at Canada College.

Menlo Park club members teach reading to third-graders at Garfield School  

Garfield School student Karla Delgato with Rotary Club member and tutor Betty Toguchi. Proceeds from Tour de Menlo support tutoring and field trips for Garfield students.

When Doug Adams of Menlo Park was president of the Rotary Club of Menlo Park, he started a tutoring project at Garfield School. That was 11 years ago and it's still going strong.  The 23 Rotarians and volunteers who took part in the program at Garfield School this year were honored at the club's annual tutor appreciation luncheon in May. During the school year, the tutors meet weekly with their charges at Garfield , a preschool through eighth-grade school in the North Fair Oaks area of unincorporated San Mateo County.

Their pupils are in third and fourth grade, the time in a student's education when he begins to learn through reading. "If kids aren't reading at third-grade level, studies show they are the least likely to be successful in their later school years," says Mr. Adams. 

The tutors work with the same student each week from October to May, spending about 45 minutes a session. "It's an excellent opportunity to help on a one-to-one basis," says Mr. Adams. 

The program's goal is English literacy, a challenge when the school's population is 96 percent Hispanic. Most of the children come from homes where no English is spoken, Mr. Adams says. 

The tutor's teaching materials vary, from phonics books for those who are far behind in their reading skills, to National Geographic books on many subjects. The students like choosing their own subjects from the books available, says Mr. Adams. 

Through funds raised by Tour de Menlo, the Rotary Foundation is able to contribute about $5,000 a year to the tutoring program. The money has been used for library books, outfitting the tutoring room with supplies, building a playground shelter, re-landscaping the front of Garfield School, funding science camp, a college day at Menlo College for the school's entire seventh grade, and funds for field trips. 

In instructions given to new tutors, volunteers are asked to let their student's teacher know if they can't make it to a tutoring session. "The students really look forward to their time with their tutor and are disappointed if they are unaware you will not be there," it says.

It seems the feelings are mutual. "The tutors just love the kids," says Mr. Adams.

For more information about the program, e-mail Mr. Adams at dougadams1@aol.com.