Garden Grove Unified Board of Education Recognizes Simon Scholars

• Tuesday, June 13, 2017

At its June 6 meeting, the Garden Grove Unified School District (GGUSD) Board of Education recognized 26 students from Garden Grove, Los Amigos, and Rancho Alamitos high schools who were named Class of 2019 Simon Scholars for their commitment to academic success and community service.

The Simon Family Foundation provides $16,000 college scholarships to students who face challenging personal and economic circumstances. The program begins prior to students’ junior year and provides students with mentoring and support to ensure a successful road to college as well as resources like leadership training, college application assistance and SAT preparation.    

New this year, the Simon Family Foundation expanded the number of college scholarships offered to GGUSD students, adding Garden Grove High School as its third partner school.  GGUSD has a longstanding partnership with the Simon Family Foundation and is the only district selected to have three schools in the program.

“We are extremely grateful for the partnership with the Simon Family Foundation and all they do to help our students succeed from junior year of high school until their college graduation,” said Bob Harden, Board of Education vice president.  “The system of support provided by this program is life-changing for our students.”

Yvonne Tran from the Simon Family Foundation provided opening remarks and the students were introduced by Garden Grove Principal Steve Osborne, Los Amigos Principal Vicki Braddock and Rancho Alamitos Principal Mary Jane Hibbard. Simon Scholars from Garden Grove High School include Quinn Bell, Kellie Bendezu, Luke Costilow, Emily Dinh, Huy (Eric) Le, Han Nguyen, Carissa Odasso, Nghiem Pham, and Kaitlyn Prickett. Simon Scholars from Los Amigos High School include Maria Andrade, Leslie Benitez, Wendy Berber, Victor Borja, Kira Bustillos, Vincent Dang, Aldo Ibarra, Kathleen Nguyen, and Erick Zeferino. Simon Scholars from Rancho Alamitos High School include Andrew Bui, Evelyn Espino, Michael Guevara, Sehrish Khan, Jaclyn Ngo, Hakmat Popal, Chelsey Powers, and Andre Vu.

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