Scholarships Awarded to Local Graduates

The Rotary Club of Blanco County recently awarded six $1000 scholarships to deserving LBJ and Blanco High School seniors.  Each student was recommended by a teacher(s) and submitted a Rotary scholarship application to the Club.  Each applicant was evaluated on their academic record, extra-curricular and community activities, and their career and life goals. 
 
The outstanding academic scholarship recipients from LBJ High School in Johnson City were:
              Maura Ibanez
              Rylee Welch
 
To Blanco High School seniors, the Rotary Club has awarded 2 academic and 1 community service scholarship in the past.  However this year, the Club awarded 3 academic scholarships because the 3 recipients were nearly identical in the evaluation or scoring process.  These outstanding students were:
              Joe Hernandez
              Macy Murphree
              Valentina Edwards
 
Named after Lt.Col, USAF, Retired Chaplain, Joe Garcia, the Community Service scholarship was awarded to Macy Murphree for her clearly outstanding contributions to her school and community. 
 
The Rotary Club of Blanco County was formed 4 years ago with the purpose of serving and supporting the County of Blanco.  Beyond awarding yearly scholarships to high school seniors, other service projects include:  distributing Hygiene Kits to local schools, assisting the reading program (Partners Assisting Literacy Success - PALS) at Blanco Elementary School, providing computers to Blanco Middle School, publicizing and educating on Human Trafficking and a host of other projects.  Anyone who is interested in supporting the community through the Rotary Club is invited to the club’s lunch meeting, at noon, the first Monday of each month at the Old 300 BBQ’s Back Forty or at its 6:30 p.m. meeting the third Monday of each month, also at the Old 300.
 
Left to right:
Joe Kustelski (Rotary President), Rylee Welch, Maura Ibanez, Jack Twilley (Rotarian)
 
Left to right:
Jack Twilley (Rotarian), Valentina Edwards, Macy Murphree, Joe Kustelski (Rotary President)
not pictured: Joe Hernandez
 
Macy Murphree was awarded the Joe Garcia Community Service Scholarship