Riverside, Calif., May, 2000--Nearly $200,000 in endowed scholarships was awarded to 144 La Sierra students at the annual Awards Assembly held on May 4.

This total represents just a small percentage of the approximately $2.5 million in grants and scholarships that the university awards annually. The awards presented on May 4 ranged from the $100 Edmund C. Jaeger Scholars Book Award, given to outstanding and graduating biology majors, to the $7,275 Maybel Jensen Memorial Endowed Scholarship, which was awarded to Wendi Achata, a doctoral student in the School of Education. While some of the endowed scholarships are awarded on a need basis, most honor academic achievement, school leadership, and extracurricular involvement. In all, 75 endowed scholarships were awarded at the assembly.

Many of the scholarships were presented by the donors themselves or by their descendants. Recent graduate Andrew Howe, who holds two degrees from La Sierra, presented a scholarship established in honor of his grandfather, Parshall Howe, a longtime Pacific Union College math professor and former missionary to Africa. The scholarship assists returning student missionaries and the $550 award went to Cristin Ray, a junior liberal studies major who spent last year in Korea.

Vivian Cushman, age 92, was on hand to present the Lester H. Cushman Endowed Scholarship, in memory of her late husband, to six students for a total of $7,740. Mr. Cushman was a charter member of La Sierra University when it opened as La Sierra Academy in 1922. Mrs. Cushman was dean of women at the university from 1962 to 1975. The scholarship was established to help students who are working their way through college.

One highlight of the awards ceremony was the presentation of the President's Award to Grace Oh, a senior violin performance major. Oh, a member of the Long Beach Philharmonic since 1997 and a winner of several national violin competitions, has been one of La Sierra's most prolific student musicians. The Glendale, Calif.-native graduated from Glendale Academy in 1996. Next year, she plans to pursue graduate studies in violin performance at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

A new award at this year's assembly was the Music Teacher's National Association Student Achievement Recognition Award, which is given to a student who intends to teach music in a private school or studio. Along with the award, Rachel Obery, a graduating music education major, will receive a one-year paid membership for the Music Teacher's National Association.

Endowed scholarships, established through the La Sierra Office of Advancement, serve to recognize academic accomplishments as well as to remember those who established them.

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Story by Bonnie Carter, La Sierra Public Relations