LA HABRA : 4 Named to Receive $300 Scholarships

A La Habra City School District employee and three children of district employees each have received $300 scholarships from the teachers’ and classified employees’ unions.

The Catherine (Kay) Leberman Memorial Scholarship awards, co-sponsored by the La Habra Education Assn. and California School Employees Assn., were given last week to Melissa Gallegos, Robert Garcia, Heidi Ospital and Cathleen Baker.

The scholarship is named after Leberman, who worked as the superintendent’s secretary from 1962 until she was killed in a 1988 accident while vacationing in Australia. The unions have awarded scholarships since 1989 in honor of Leberman.

Gallegos, 18, a senior at Sunny Hills High School in Fullerton, said she will attend UC Riverside next fall to pursue a degree in psychology. Her mother, Martha Gallegos, is the Walnut Elementary School nurse.

Garcia, 20, is a teacher’s aide at Las Positas Elementary School. The Fullerton College graduate will transfer to Cal State Fullerton in the fall to study for a teaching credential.

Ospital, 17, will attend Cal State Fullerton in the fall. Her mother, Robyn Ospital, is a fourth-grade teacher at Walnut Elementary school and her grandmother, Ruth Fehr, is the district assistant superintendent. Ospital is graduating from La Habra High School this week.

Baker, 24, a graduate student at Cal Poly Pomona, is studying to become a teacher. Her mother, Barbara Baker, is a clerk at Arbolita Child Care Center.