By Tom Marshall
I always look forward to the annual awarding of $750 college scholarships to a pair of deserving local high school students by the San Clemente Historical Society.
That’s probably because I was such a great student myself. (Full disclosure: That second sentence was widely known as “The Big Lie” until the 2020 Presidential election.)
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the disruption it caused students, we worried what impact it would have on college-bound seniors.
As our scholarship chair Suzi Klickstein notes, “The pandemic definitely had an impact. We got a total of six applications this year. They are all quality applications, though.”
Usually, we get 30 to 40.
“Since students weren’t actually at school much of the year, they didn’t have as much interaction to spread the word about scholarships available,” said Marilyn Wigglesworth, committee member and former teacher.
Perhaps the roadblocks thrown in the path of this year’s graduates strengthened their resolve. Case in point: Joshua Sherreitt went to the extraordinary length of hand-delivering his application packet in person to Klickstein’s home.
Since the packet was too large for the mailbox and the front gate was locked, the athletic Sherreitt climbed the high outside wall into Klickstein’s front yard. Then he presented the application to Suzi’s amazed husband, Michael, who helped him leave the normal way through the front gate.
I guess that junior lifeguard training paid off for the straight-A student.
In the essay applicants were asked to submit, Josh wrote about the Clocktower building at the beach as “a beacon and historical sight welcoming people to the center of activity surrounding the pier bowl.”
Our second scholarship award recipient, Megan Moe, is equally impressive. She has already dipped her toe (a Moe Toe?) into the swirling waters of politics and government.
Since January 2020, she has been an intern for Congressman Mike Levin in his local office.
Megan had previously distinguished herself as founder of San Clemente High School’s chapter of the California High School Democrats and as an active member of the California Youth Climate Strike team.
She is currently founding member and Director of Strategic Relations for the new SCHS chapter of GenUp, advocating for improved education programs in California.
So it should be no surprise that she plans to attend UC Berkeley in the fall.
Congratulations to all those who applied for our scholarships and a big thank you to those who contributed to our scholarship fund. For anyone wishing to contribute to next year’s scholarships, contact president Larry Culbertson at larryculbertson3@gmail.com.
Tom Marshall is a member of the San Clemente Historical Society and a retired journalist.
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