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Deserving Seniors

Community: awards night

Brian Wilkinson

(Updated: Thursday, May 12, 2011, 3:51 PM)

Proud parents and other family members filled the Yosemite High School Theatre on Monday night as $138,150 in community awards were presented to graduating seniors.

Deborah Siverly, a member of the school's counseling staff and community awards coordinator, said 98 students received 247 financial awards from 70 community clubs, businesses and individuals.

The cash awards ranged from $100 to $1,250, including 47 $1,000 awards. Many Mountain Area clubs and organizations do a variety of yearlong fundraisers specifically for community awards night.

Erica Grant walked to the podium nine times, more than anyone else, to collect $5,300 in awards.

Grant, who will attend the University of California, Los Angeles, in the fall, majoring in microbiology and molecular genetics, said she appreciated the awards and that the funds will help her during her first year of college.

"The community is awesome," Grant said. "Almost half the graduating class (205) received an award."

Kathryn Voltmer and Kazia Hart collected eight awards each, totaling $5,450 and $4,550 respectively.

Three seniors, Nicholas Greene, Michael Lalev and Hector Teneri-Rivera, received six awards each, and 26 seniors were presented with three to five awards.

"It's my privilege to be involved in the community awards program and work with our great donors," Siverly said. "The program connects the community with our graduating seniors, our next generation of leaders. What was special this year was that every student that applied for a community award received at least one."

Oakhurst dentist Adrian Buca presented four $750 awards to Elizabeth Avina, Grant, Megan Howard and Lily Radonovich. He referred to the movie "Invictus," the story of the 1995 South African rugby team that won the 1995 World Cup.

"The movie stressed moving the ball forward," Buca said. "This community is now passing the ball to you, and it's up to you to move the ball forward by continuing your education and being leaders in your community."

A new award this year was the Cody Minter Memorial Scholarship.

A gifted baseball and basketball player, Minter, at 14, had graduated from Raymond Knowles Elementary School in 2009 and was going to play on Yosemite's varsity basketball team when he died of cardiac arrest during a summer league basketball game in July that year at Fresno Christian High School.

Yosemite basketball coach Mark Siverly said a boys and girls basketball tournament last summer at Fresno Christian helped raise funds for the scholarship.

Minter's father, Mike, presented the award to Caleb Cederblom and Evan Ewert. He said Cederblom and Ewert took his young son under their wings and showed him the ropes.

Multiple scholarships were presented by many organizations, led by the Gerald A. Smith Memorial and the Service Organization of the Sierras, each awarding nine. The Danny Zabicki Memorial and the Yosemite High FFA Ag Boosters each gave eight, and Sierra Tel gave seven.

Four organizations each presented six scholarships: El Capitan Education Foundation, North Fork Faculty Club, Yosemite Youth Basketball Association and Yosemite-Coarsegold CSEA, Chapter 698.

Retired Yosemite teacher and counselor Barry Bartlett said he remembered when the program started in 1977, when 10 awards were presented for $12,000.

Before the presentations, the Yosemite High School Cadet Corps presented the colors, and seniors Lacey Smith and David Carson Lovett sang the national anthem.

Awards/Student Name

49 EARS

• Romero, Daniel

A.C.S.A. Charter - Madera/Mariposa

• Neff, Natalie

Adrian Buca DDS Academic Achievement Award

• Avina, Elizabeth
• Grant, Erica
• Howard, Megan
• Radonovich, Lily

Aiming High Award

• Smith, Lacey

Badger Tennis Future Stars

• Avina, Elizabeth
• Grant, Erica
• Hart, Kazia
• Peredia, Pierrette
• Perkins, Kelly

Barbara Banich Memorial

• Grant, Erica

Barbara Kelly Family Dental

• Gill, Shivani

Bass Lake Lions Club

• Ayala, Naila
• Gould, Christopher
• Solomon, Emily

Bill Williams Memorial

• Gilbank, Jeffrey

Billy Vukovich III Memorial

• Neff, Natalie
• Perkins, Kelly
• Tenorio - Rivera, Hector
• Cornell, Rex

Buddy Cudd Memorial

• Moberly, Daniela
• Solomon, Emily

Cary Simms Memorial Scholarship

• Allsup, Savannah
• Gambril, Clayton
• Goldman, Emily

Danny Zabicki Memorial - Roman & Laura Zabicki

• Friesen, Mitchell
• Grant, Erica
• Hart, Kazia
• Maurer, Corey
• Patterson, Sierra
• Polkenhorn, Jamie
• Ratchford, Alexander
• Schneider, Brooke
• Solomon, Emily

Darin Camarena Health Center

• Greene, Nicholas

Doctors Dennis Jones, Rodney Peter & Staff

• Davis, Jillian
• Tenorio - Rivera, Hector

Doris Horasanian Memorial

• Solomon, Emily
• Ellis, Jordan

Eakin Peirsol Memorial Award

• Grant, Erica
• Greene, Nicholas
• Ross, Olivia

El Capitan Education Foundation

• Cummins, Brandon
• Dambrino, Logan
• Fuller, Brandon
• Howard, Megan
• Lalev, Michael
• Mudrick, Vanessa
• Nelson, Paul

Eric Seger Memorial

• Contreras, Cheyenne

Frank Logar Memorial Music Award

• Hagerman, Chase
• Howard, Megan

Future Veterinarian Award - Thrift Shop

• Peredia, Pierrette

Gerald A. Smith Memorial

• Bohner, Samantha
• Craig, Kelci
• Holcomb, Paulina
• Howell, Kevin
• Kanaley, Patricia
• McCourt, Ryan
• Pascillas, Jessica
• Scott, Aubrianne
• Stutsman, Sadie
• Tovar, Olivia

Golden Chain Theatre

• Scott, Aubrianne

Grant Mercantile

• Friesen, Mitchell
• Rudd, Amanda

H.O.L.I.D.A.Y.S. (Hallmark Ornament Collectors)

• Radonovich, Lily

Harmelin Family Award

• Marr, Nicholas

Heart of the Mountains Award

• Grillo, Gian

Ibrahim Kabbani Memorial

• Black, Kailash
• McCourt, Ryan
• Smith, Lacey

Indian Lakes Ladies Auxiliary

• Fuller, Brandon
• Pasillas, Jessica

James H. Watkins, Law Office

• Howard, Megan

Jeremy Carter Memorial

• Gould, Christopher
• Grillo, Gian
• Pritchett, Jake

Jill St. Onge Memorial Award

• Cummins, Brandon

Ladies of the Lakes - YLP

• Avina, Elizabeth
• Ellis, Jordan
• Gutelli - Gomez, Mary
• Hendrickson, Grant

Live Oak Associates Biology - Ecology Award

• Avina, Elizabeth

Madera County Arts Council

• Hagerman, Chase

Madera County Office of Education Academic Decathlon

• Denny, Melissa

Madera County Retired Teachers Assoc.

• Voltmer, Kathryn

Madera Republican Women Federated

• Greene, Nicholas

Marine Corps League Griswold Mtn. Det. #1121

• Greene, Nicholas
• Lalev, Michael
• Mills, Stephanie
• Voltmer, Kathryn
• Williams, Annie

North Fork Faculty Club

• Dambrino, Blake
• Dambrino, Logan
• Grant, Erica
• Hart, Kazia
• Maurer, Corey
• Patterson, Sierra
• Ratchford, Alexander

North Fork Faculty Native American Award

• Polkenhorn, Jamie

North Fork Faculty Sheryl Fearn Memorial

• Polkenhorn, Jamie

North Fork Lions Club

• Grant, Erica
• Hart, Kazia

North Fork Women's Club

• Grant, Erica
• Hart, Kazia
• Patterson, Sierra

North Fork Women's Club - Robert Stanley Memorial

• Barry, Kelsie

Oak Creek Intermediate School

• Conley III, Jerry
• Goldman, Emily
• Tenorio - Rivera, Hector

Oakhurst Democratic Club

• Grant, Erica
• Mears, Kelly

Oakhurst Elementary School

• Neff, Natalie

Oakhurst Sierra Noon Rotary Club

• Barney, Joanna
• Fruth, Gretchen
• Lovett, David 'Carson'
• Mears, Kelly
• Nobles, Nicole

Oakhurst Sierra Sunrise Rotary Club

• Conley III, Jerry
• Gill, Shivani
• Grossi, Kaiden
• Maurer, Corey

Oakhurst Sierra Sunrise Rotary Club INTERACT

• Fruth, Gretchen

Our Lady of the Sierra Women's Guild

• Grocholski, Tyler
• Peredia, Pierrette

Pines Civic Council

• Ratchford, Alexander

Positive Living Center (Ruth Ross Memorial)

• Neff, Natalie

Recycle Award

• Conley III, Jerry
• Lalev, Michael
• Neff, Natalie

River Creek Golf Course

• Rudd, Amanda

Service Organization of the Sierra

• Avina, Elizabeth
• Ayala, Niala
• Cornell, Rex
• Dambrino, Blake
• DePledge, William (Glacier)
• Gould, Christopher
• Greene, Nicholas
• Hale, Krystina
• Solomon, Emily
• Tenorio - Rivera, Hector

Sierra Ambulance

• Delgado, Steven
• Goldman, Emily

Sierra Lions Club of Oakhurst - Albert Guyett Memorial

• Voltmer, Kathryn

Sierra Lions Club of Oakhurst - Devere Williams Memorial

• Friesen, Mitchell

Sierra Lions Club of Oakhurst - Jesse Love Memorial

• Tenorio - Rivera, Hector

Sierra Masonic Lodge #788

• Tenorio - Rivera, Hector

Sierra Pines Church

• Allsup, Savannah

Sierra Tel - Baker Memorial

• Arel, Courtney

Sierra Tel Business Center

• Jones, Dillon

Sierra Tel Business Systems

• Friesen, Mitchell

Sierra Tel Internet

• Rose, Brandon

Sierra Tel Long Distance

• Mears, Kelly

Sierra Tel Sierra Cellular

• Voltmer, Kathryn

Sierra Telephone

• Prather, Joshua

Sierra - Oakhurst Kiwanis Club

• Gotelli - Gomez, Mary Christine
• Hart, Kazia
• Prather, Joshua
• Voltmer, Kathryn

Sorich - Tomlinson Award

• Young, Justin

Soroptimist International of The Sierras

• Ayala, Niala
• Gotelli - Gomez, Mary Christine
• Hart, Kazia
• Nobles, Nicole
• Solomon, Emily

Swortzel Trust

• Alexander, Shonna
• Bennett, Ashley
• Black, Kailash
• Di Tomaso, John
• Krucki, Justin
• Long, Alexandra
• Shea, Caden
• Thacker, Courtney

Tenaya Lodge

• Rudd, Amanda
• Turner, Caitlin

Travis Myers Memorial

• Turner, Caitlin

Vern & Delores Brooks Educators Award

• Voltmer, Kathryn

Veterans of Foreign Wars

• Greene, Nicholas
• Howard, Megan
• Romero, Daniel

Vision Academy of the Arts -

• Barry, Kelsie
• Ewert, Evan
• Hagerman, Chase
• Lalev, Michael
• Radonovich, Lily
• Scott, Aubrianne
• Smith, Lacey

Wasuma Elementary School

• Barney, Joanna
• Peredia, Pierrette

Wild, Wonderful Women

• Lalev, Michael

William Beau Bushman Memorial

• Cornell, Rex
• Gould, Christopher
• Lalev, Michael

Willow Bridge Books - Creative Writing Award

• Stanfield, Chelsea

Wilma Ely Memorial

• Ellis, Jordan
• Jones, Dillon
• LeForge, Ashley
• Pludow, Hannah

Yosemite Bank

• Marr, Nicholas

Yosemite Baseball Boosters

• Doering, Joe
• Grocholski, Tyler
• McConnell, Trevor

Yosemite Gateway Association of Realtors

• Ayala, Naila
• Ellis, Jordan
• Gould, Christopher
• Hart, Kazia
• Voltmer, Kathryn

Yosemite High FFA AG Boosters

• Allsup, Savannah
• Delgado, Steven
• Fielding, Haley
• Gambril, Clayton
• Goldman, Emily
• Russell, Paige
• Stanfield, Chelsea
• Starnes, Michael
• Turner, Caitlin

Yosemite High Leadership

• Mears, Kelly

Yosemite Youth Basketball Association

• Barney, Joanna
• Cederblom, Caleb
• Ellis, Ashley
• Ewert, Evan
• Grant, Devin
• Jensen, Taylor
• Rudd, Amanda

Yosemite Youth Basketball - Cody Minter Memorial

• Cederblom, Caleb
• Ewert, Evan

Yosemite/Coarsegold CSEA Chapter 698

• Ewert, Evan
• Grant, Devin