Santa Barbara Foundation Announces 2014 Scholarship Award Recipients

“I believe being a role model requires a person of character who is willing to share themselves and their abilities with others,” said award recipient, Emma Andersen. “It is about being involved and doing good things for the community.”

This sentiment is echoed by all of the Santa Barbara Foundation Spaulding, Fleischmann, and Floro 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 organizations, volunteering at Safety Town, the Lompoc Convalescent Center, Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, Good Samaritan Shelter, Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation, Goleta Public Library, and Santa Maria Valley Discovery Museum, to name a few. For their great academic success and devotion to community service, each student was given a scholarship award.

The scholarship recipients 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, Max Fleischmann, and Gwendolyn Floro, 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.

“When we focus on education, we move in a direction that gets back to what made our country great – educating our children so that they might take their place as future leaders,” said Ron Gallo, president & CEO of the Santa Barbara Foundation. “I am hopeful that through their great achievements, these scholarship recipients will continue to lead all our communities forward.”

Fleischmann Award recipients are students who have demonstrated exceptional academic performance and commitment to community service. A $2,000 award was bestowed upon each of the 20 students.

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

Floro Award recipients are students from the Santa Maria area who have demonstrated exceptional academic performance and commitment to community service. For their efforts, each of these 19 students received a $2,500 award.

The Santa Barbara Foundation recognizes the importance of education and the strength that it brings to communities. Providing students with the opportunity to pursue continued education is key to giving them the skills they need to be productive individuals of this county. Thanks to the generosity of many donors and working in collaboration with the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara, last year the Santa Barbara Foundation awarded $1.6 million in student aid. Throughout its history, the Santa Barbara Foundation is proud to have awarded more than $40 million in scholarships and loans to local students.

Award Recipients

The recipient of the 2014 Spaulding Award is Samuel Andrew from Cabrillo High School.

The recipients of the 2014 Fleischmann Awards are: Anmole Ahdi from Dos Pueblos High School; Emma Andersen from Dunn High School; Grace Apostolopoulos from Santa Barbara High School; Foster Campbell from Santa Barbara High School; Kaileen Cruden from St. Joseph High School; Patricia Davis from Lompoc High School; Sara Doyle from dos Pueblos High School; Ivy Hirsch from Santa Barbara High School; Tina Javanbakht from Dos Pueblos High School; Kyle Kovacs from Dos Pueblos High School; Matthew McFadden from San Marcos High School; Laurel Mead from San Marcos High School; Molly Miller from Carpinteria High School; Jorge Moran from Pioneer Valley High School; Emerson Pizzinat from San Marcos High School; Sarah Rich from San Marcos High School; Alex Rickman from Dos Pueblos High School; David Wagstaffe from Santa Ynez Valley High School; and Natalie Wilkie from Dos Pueblos High School.

The recipients of the 2014 Floro Awards are: Marie Aguinaldo from St. Joseph High School; Rebecca Aldrich from Ernest Righetti High School; Angelica Castro from Pioneer Valley High School; Kaileen Cruden from St. Joseph High School; Hayden Downum from Orcutt Academy Charter High School; Diana Farfan-Ayala from Pioneer Valley High School; Samantha Galicinao from Santa Maria High School; Enrique Jacobo-Gonzalez from Santa Maria High School; Andrew Kufeldt from Orcutt Academy Charter High School; Brad Kufeldt from Orcutt Academy Charter High School; Alexis Laggren from St. Joseph High School; Jorge Moran from Pioneer Valley High School; Alyssa Moreno from Orcutt Academy Charter High School; Stephany Rubio from Pioneer Valley High School; Kylie Sagisi from Ernest Righetti High School; Nancy Sandoval from Orcutt Academy Charter High School; Hannah Savaso from Ernest Righetti High School; Ciara Smith from Pioneer Valley High School; and Lesther Lem Valenzuela from Ernest Righetti High School.

About the Awards

Thanks to the foresight of three significant philanthropists, Edward R. Spaulding, Max Fleischmann, and Gwendolyn Floro, the foundation is pleased to offer the following awards in perpetuity:

The Spaulding Award is named in honor of Edward R. Spaulding, the first executive director of the Santa Barbara Foundation. During his 26 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.

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 Floro Award is funded through a bequest by Gwendolyn Floro, a Santa Maria woman who wished to assist high-achieving students with a strong record of community service. A Nebraskan by birth, Mrs. Floro, her husband, and three children moved to Santa Maria in 1948, where she worked for the Red Cross until her retirement in 1978. Mrs. Floro’s generous gift to the foundation was the largest ever from the Santa Maria community.

About the Santa Barbara Foundation:

The Santa Barbara Foundation is an 86-year-old community foundation established to enrich the lives of the people of Santa Barbara County through philanthropy. As one of the largest private sources of funding in the county, the foundation’s primary objectives are to build and facilitate philanthropy through donor partnerships; strengthen the social (nonprofit) sector; and identify and strategically address important community needs and opportunities. 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 uses all the tools of philanthropy to help bring about a more vibrant, engaged, and meaningfully connected Santa Barbara County…for all.

Contact: Jessica Tade

Director of Communications and Marketing

Santa Barbara Foundation

(805) 880-9391

jtade@sbfoundation.org