2014 Scholarship Recipients
2014 Stephanie Lynne Calalms Memorial Scholarship recipients. Left to right—Yonathan Benitez, Brian Rico Mendoza and Bryan Fajardo.
Our Scholarship is in its second year and running strong. We're proud to announce that we raised enough funds this year to award 3 scholarships—that's 3-times the amount given out last year! We couldn't have done it without our generous donors and committed volunteers that helped increase our fundraising efforts. Thank you to everyone that made 2014 such a success!
Bryan Fajardo was a student of Stephanie's and will be attending Austin College in Fall 2014.
He expressed at the awards ceremony that Stephanie tutored him after school and helped him stay on track, adding that he will always be grateful for all her efforts. He remembered Stephanie telling him hard work and dedication will make him very successful in life and said her help eventually transformed his performance as an average C student into an exceptional leader in the classroom with much higher grades. Fajardo wants to be a neurologist after graduating college.
Yonathan Benitez was also a student of Stephanie's and will be attending Stephen F. Austin College in Fall 2014.
Benitez said Stephanie also tutored him after school and helped him appreciate the value of hard work and dedication. He added that working with Stephanie was very rewarding because she made him feel as though he was smart and could learn anything. Benitez said after completing college he wants to be a math teacher.
Brian Rico Mendoza will be attending the University of Texas at Dallas in Fall 2014.
Although Mendoza did not know Stephanie, he said it was an honor to receive her Scholarship and was very touched by her story and how she went above and beyond as a teacher. He will be majoring in kinesiology.