Rotary Club of Burlingame
HIGH GEAR
Special Edition
May 27, 2020
Reporter - Marilyn Orr
Burlingame High School held their annual Senior Awards Program on Tuesday, May 26th. Due to the current pandemic the ceremony was a virtual one which was broadcast through a
YouTube link. After opening remarks and welcome by BHS Principal and fellow Rotarian
Paul Belzer, the first order of business was the awarding of the Burlingame High Alumni of the Year. The recipient was our very own
Dennis Zell. We hope that Dennis is aware that this recognition will be costly!
Also honored were this year’s Rotary Scholarship winners. Our club scholarships represented almost $40,000 of the total $81,000 awarded to graduating students. All of our scholarships are awarded on the basis of academic achievement, community and school involvement and financial need. Interviews with the many applicants were conducted earlier, via Zoom, by the Rotary scholarship committee.
Mike Heffernan chairs the college scholarship programs and
Jennifer Pence co-chairs the BIS Scholar program. Those Rotarians who assisted with the interviews this year are
Linna Golodriga, Cary Koh, Emily Matthews, Marilyn Orr and Wendi Upchurch.
Six Burlingame High seniors received tuition assistance through our 4-year College Scholarship program. Our community college scholarships, through our
Make A Difference Fund, selected two recipients. (A third recipient is a former 2-time recipient who is successfully graduating from CSM and transferring to UC Santa Barbara.) Also honored were seven seniors who have been part of our Middle School Scholars Program since graduating from Burlingame Middle School four years ago.
Every year our Club awards a Burlingame High student with the Doc Scheppler Athletic Award. The award goes to an athlete who, like Doc Scheppler, not only excelled in athletics but is also someone of strong character. Ernie “Doc” Scheppler was a 1934 grad of Burlingame HS, and joined Burlingame Rotary in 1947 and was a consistent and vocal supporter of the Burlingame High School athletic programs.
If you would like to view the Senior Award Program on YouTube the link is below:
Our regular meeting schedule will resume on Wednesday, June 3 via Zoom. Our speaker will be Forest Malakoff of the Philos Foundation. Hope to see you all then.
