Column: The Crowd: 1221 auxiliary presents scholarships to high school students

Some 15 years ago Beverly Ray, the former owner of Balboa Bay Club, wanted to come up with a concept to bring Newport Beach women together to foster friendships under a social umbrella.

Her motives were purely social; there was no business connection.

Ray wanted to create the camaraderie of an earlier time when she first was introduced to Newport Beach in the 1960s by her late husband and Bay Club owner Bill Ray.

The social life of 1960s Newport was dominated by one doyenne named Dorothy Yardley.

Yardley, in her grand dame style of manner and dress, led the charge for many years planning and organizing many of the major social events on the coast, and so many of the prominent women flocked to her side. But in the ’90s the social temperature was significantly different, so Ray — in creating the “1221” auxiliary, which was named after the Bay Club street address on Pacific Coast Highway — could not just have a socially frivolous purpose.

Therefore, in creating the 1221 Club to bring women together under the social umbrella, there also would be an element of giving back to the community, and the 1221 Club Scholarship Fund was created.

Almost two decades later, the Balboa Bay Club and its 1221 Auxiliary are now in the hands of the Pickup and Martin families.

Carole Pickup, daughter Devon Martin and daughter-in-law Natalie Pickup have taken the lead in continuing the 1221 Scholarship Fund, increasing its endowment for posterity as well as broadening its reach granting college assistance to many more deserving students in the Newport-Mesa district.

The women have worked closely with 1221 Auxiliary president Kathy Hamilton and vice president Anne Wortmann, helping raise significant funds and attracting additional members supporting the outreach.

To date, the fund has granted about $1.5 million in scholarships to local students.

Last month, during a ceremony held in the Grand Ballroom of Balboa Bay Resort, 24 students from the four Newport-Mesa high schools received $190,000 in grants for 2017.

It remains the largest private scholarship fund in the Newport-Mesa community.

The granting ceremony was an emotional celebration bringing together students, parents, grandparents, teachers, administrators, friends and community leaders who witnessed a remarkable display of intelligence, ambition, creativity and poise delivered by 24 young men and women all set to tackle the world ahead of them.

What was perhaps most endearing as each of the scholarship recipients accepted their awards was the extreme gratitude expressed by each student toward parents, siblings, teachers, counselors and coaches who had been so important in helping them succeed in life.

Some of the students cried as they told the audience of several hundred guests how much a single parent had sacrificed to get them to this point in life.

One particular young man could barely speak recounting the loss of his dad, telling the crowd how proud he would have been to see his son graduate high school and head off to college.

The students will go to a variety of excellent universities, including UC Irvine, UC Berkeley, MIT, Boston University, Georgetown, among others.

Interestingly, almost all the students will pursue higher education goals in science and technology.

Many will seek advanced degrees in computer technology, engineering and related sciences. Others want to go into medicine and other areas of medical research. One young woman proudly told the audience that she was pursuing a degree in English and wanted to become a writer.

The students nominated for the awards are recommended by their high school counselors.

The 1221 Scholarship Fund then narrows the search, selecting six students from each of the four high schools — Newport Harbor, Corona del Mar, Costa Mesa and Estancia.

The nominees then appear before a panel of judges that include John Wortmann, an oil and retail businessman and Balboa Bay Resort chairman of the board of governors, banker Noel Hamilton,, prominent Newport Beach philanthropist Catherine Thyen, former high school principal and educator Char Armstrong and Heather Dickerson, along with Carole Pickup and Malcolm Smith of the ownership and management team.

The students are interviewed extensively and ultimately judged not only on grade point average and advanced placement success, but also on additional accomplishments including athletics, community service and leadership roles. Financial need also is taken into consideration.

The 2017 1221 scholar winners were awarded in various categories.

Students included in the Balboa Bay Club Scholarship category were Drake Workman, Sarah Catania, Ally Lozano, Sarah Mack and Jose A La Torre.

Governor Scholarship winners were Holly Reiland, Gabrielle Lau, Grace Jennings, David Sharp and Samuel Nitz.

Pinnacle Scholarship Awards went to John Russell, Trenton Rhodes, Jason Chesemore, Julianna Makley, Julia Paluch and Kathryn Peters.

Finally, the 1221 Club Scholarships were awarded to Casey Campbell, Charter Chapman, Anise Potjes, Jaydin Moses, Jeffrey Alai, Johnny Herrera, Marley Mais and Serafina Busa.

Congratulations to all.

B.W. COOK is editor of the Bay Window, the official publication of the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach.