The Crowd: Graduates join the scholarship ‘Club’
It was arguably the most inspirational evening of the year at the Balboa Bay Club.
The annual 1221 Club Scholarship Awards were granted to students from the Newport-Mesa Unified School District. Twenty-four grants totaling $150,000 were bestowed upon exceptional graduating seniors. Over the past two decades, the 1221 awards have reached the $1-million mark, making these scholarships among the most significant in the region.
The grants are named for the numerical address of the iconic social institution on the bay. The auxiliary organization founded to fund and support the scholarships is primarily a confederation of women, many of them longtime friends, who gather throughout the year on a social basis while at the same time raising funds to assist young men and women heading to college.
The 1221 Club is led by President Carole Pickup, the matriarch of the Pickup family, owners of the Balboa Bay Club and Balboa Bay Resort, among other investments associated with Tim Busch‘s Pacific Hospitality Group. She is joined by her daughter Devon Martin and daughter-in-law Natalie Pickup in running the organization.
“Every one of the students seeking a scholarship is outstanding,” offered Carole Pickup, a former educator who taught at Mariners Elementary School in Newport Beach. “Deciding which student would receive which award was a serious task. Our panel of judges spent hours on multiple evenings interviewing all of the candidates. I went home exhausted, but definitely inspired.”
The panel of judges included, in addition to Pickup family members, Norman Loats, distinguished former Newport-Mesa superintendent, Newport philanthropist Catherine Thyen, Wells Fargo private banker Noel Hamilton and Balboa Bay Club board of governors Chairman John Wortmann.
Students selected for the scholarships come via recommendations from Newport-Mesa high school principals and counselors. They are chosen based on academic performance, athletic participation, community and school service and demonstrated financial need.
The formal presentation unfolded on the evening of May 28 in the grand ballroom of the Balboa Bay Resort. Students were invited along with their families and friends. They joined 1221 Club members and guests, Balboa Bay Club governors including Robert Howard, Joe Moody, Todd Pickup, Jane Rivera and Bob Robins Jr., and Newport Beach Mayor Rush Hill and Councilman Keith Curry. Hill read a proclamation declaring May 28 as Balboa Bay Club 1221 Scholarship Day in Newport Beach.
Event organizer Aaron Trent joined Bay Club General Manager Malcolm Smith and Bay Resort General Manager Sam El-Rabaa in welcoming some 300 guests for dinner before the presentation of awards. Guests sampled food at stations featuring an array of sliced sirloin of beef, fresh seafood and a “south of the border” buffet overflowing with a taco bar, quesadillas and all the trimmings.
Mingling in the crowd were local 1221 donors Loretta Haugen, Terry Kerley, Jaclyn Kessler, Elizabeth and Rick Lund, Carolyn Olsen, Patricia Gehl, Cyrene Pellegrino, Karen Pierce, Mary Roosevelt, Madeline Zuckerman, Denise Schuler, Anne Wortmann, Barbara Bain, Donna Anderson, Virginia Savage and Ginny Robins, to name only a few.
Following opening remarks from Hill, Carole Pickup and Martin, emcee Wortmann introduced the award winners.
The first group of students received Foundation Scholarship Awards in the amount of $1,000 each. Sixteen men and women from all the Newport-Mesa schools shared in the honors.
Recipients included: from Estancia High School, Nikkie Blinn, Persis William-Mensah, Ricardo Herrera, Jesus Acevedo and Thanh Nguyen; from Corona del Mar High School, Christina Nelson, Kevin Conde, Andrew Hanson and Charles Griffin; from Newport Harbor High School, Riley Flanagan, Natalie Gerber and Rodrigo Hernandez; and from Costa Mesa High School, Hoan Nguyen, Kimberly Hedges and Daniel Lawrence.
The foundation awards were followed by the Governor’s Scholarships in the amount of $7,000 each. Marissa Fink from Corona del Mar High and Sagang Wee from Costa Mesa High took home the awards.
Finally, three additional categories of awards, each offering multiple $20,000 grants, concluded the presentation. Two Balboa Bay Club Scholarships were granted to Logan Whalen and Abigail To, both from Costa Mesa High.
John Marco Bruscia and Emily Parsons, both from Newport Harbor High, accepted $20,000 awards under the banner of 1221 Scholarships. And new this year, underwritten by the Dick Pickup family, two Pinnacle Scholarships also with $20,000 grants were awarded — to Ellen Naruse from Corona del Mar High and Shaun Vetrovec from Newport Harbor High.
Each of the eight scholarship recipients in the top four categories was invited up to the podium to make remarks as the awards were handed out. The speeches were both passionate and poised, telling the audience of the dreams, plans and aspirations of each student.
Heartfelt love and appreciation were offered to parents, teachers and mentors. Tears flowed and applause filled the ballroom as the crowd leaped to their feet after each presentation. This will definitely be a night to remember for years to come for the students and their families, a special rite of passage for young men and women entering adulthood.
Monday evening at Newport Harbor High, Wortmann will address the soon-to-be-graduating assemblage and their families, sharing the highlights of the 1221 Balboa Bay Club Scholarship winners.
THE CROWD runs Fridays. B.W. Cook is editor of the Bay Window, the official publication of the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach.
