Santa Barbara Foundation Announces 2012 Scholarship Award Recipients

This sentiment is echoed by all of the Spaulding and Fleischmann award recipients who have followed their passions in their willingness to give back to the communities they live in. Most have donated their time and efforts to a variety of important issues and nonprofit organizations, volunteering at the Santa Barbara Rescue Mission, Domestic Violence Solutions, Safety Town, Cottage Hospital, Direct Relief International, Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation, and Santa Barbara Public Library, to name a few. For their great academic success and devotion to community service, each student will be given an award.

In addition to the scholarship award, those students receiving Fleischmann awards were also given $500 to donate to the nonprofit organization of their choice. This donation is the start of each student’s philanthropic journey, following a long line of generous individuals who have shaped Santa Barbara County. The students themselves are beneficiaries of forward thinking individuals whose bequests have a rich history of recognizing and rewarding extraordinary student achievement. In the case of Edward R. Spaulding and Max Fleischmann, their wish to support academic excellence and community service in part contributes to the Santa Barbara Foundation’s ability to support academic achievement through scholarship awards.

“These Santa Barbara Foundation donors provided a legacy of support that allows us to continue to honor students who are making a real difference in the lives of others,” said Ron Gallo, president & CEO of the Santa Barbara Foundation. “We applaud these students who have achieved such high academic achievements, while also tending to the needs of their community.”

Fleischmann Award recipients are students who have demonstrated exceptional academic performance and commitment to community service. A $2,000 award will be bestowed upon each of the 20 students representing seven high schools. An additional $500 award is allocated to each student to be donated to the nonprofit organization of their choice. While being rewarded for their great efforts, they will continue to give back to their communities.

The candidate from the Fleischmann pool receiving the highest rating from the Fleischmann Subcommittee is also awarded the Edward Spaulding Award. The Spaulding Award carries an additional $1,000 award.

For the past 14 years, the Santa Barbara Foundation has awarded 16,000 scholarships and loans to local students through the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara. Funds come from both organizations, but the management of the student aid programs is done by the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara. This collaboration ensures that millions of dollars is efficiently distributed to the students of Santa Barbara County for student aid.

Award Recipients

The recipient of the 2012 Edward Spaulding Award is Heather Hourdequin from St. Joseph High School.

The recipients of the 2012 Fleischmann Awards are: Shandeep Ahdi from Dos Pueblos High School; Christina Blair from Dos Pueblos High School; Blakely Colvin from Santa Ynez Valley High School; Jessica Davis from Laguna Blanca; Tyler Dickinson from Pioneer Valley High School; Jessica DiMizio from San Marcos High School; Parisa Fallahi from San Marcos High School; Blanca Garcia from Santa Barbara High School; Tessa Kaplan from Santa Barbara High School; Anna Marroquin from Dos Pueblos High School; Camille Miller from Dos Pueblos High School; Rene Mireles from Dos Pueblos High School; Claire Patterson from Santa Barbara High School; Michael Sikich; Grace Spadoro from Dos Pueblos High School; Sheridan Spivey from Santa Barbara High School; Claire Upton from Santa Barbara High School; Casey Venturelli from San Marcos High School; and Michael Yi from Dos Pueblos High School.

About the Awards

Thanks to the foresight of two significant philanthropists, Max Fleischmann and Edward R.Spaulding, the Foundation is pleased to offer the following awards in perpetuity:

The Fleischmann Award, named after the Santa Barbara Foundation’s Founder Major Max Fleischmann, is one of the Santa Barbara Foundation’s many student aid programs. This award is given to local students who demonstrate a high level of academic achievement, community service, and plan to pursue higher education.

The Spaulding Award is named in honor of Edward R. Spaulding, the first executive director of the Santa Barbara Foundation. During his twenty-six years of service to the Foundation, Ed took an active role in growing the Foundation and increasing its visibility throughout Santa Barbara County, making scores of site visits to nonprofit agencies and personally interviewing hundreds of student candidates for financial aid. In many ways, Ed personified the Foundation’s human touch, and he left a memorable mark on the community that was his lifelong home.

About the Santa Barbara Foundation:

The Santa Barbara Foundation is a community foundation established in 1928 to enrich the lives of the people of Santa Barbara County through philanthropy. As one of the largest private sources of funding for area nonprofits, agencies, and college bound students, the Foundation builds and facilitates philanthropy through donor partnerships; invests in nonprofits to strengthen the nonprofit sector; and identifies and strategically addresses important community needs to solve problems. Guided by compassion for the most vulnerable and those most in need of help, excellence in what it supports and with whom it partners, and integrity with a focus on stewardship and transparency, the Santa Barbara Foundation is invested in a more vibrant, engaged, and meaningfully connected Santa Barbara County…for all.