Community: Sorority group, Assistance League presents scholarships

Young women pursuing a college education recently received scholarships from the Glendale Area Alumnae Panhellenic, a network of local women’s sororities.

Awards of varying amounts are given annually to eligible young women graduating from high school who are planning to attend a four-year college or university in the fall, as well as eligible women attending college who are members in good standing of a National Panhellenic Conference sorority. Funds are raised by an annual benefit luncheon.

The top scholarship is the Mary Ellen Gilstrap Memorial Scholarship award. Gilstrap, a longtime La Cañada resident, was a member of Chi Omega and a member of Glendale Area Alumnae Panhellenic for 18 years. She passed away in 2005.

Each year, the recipient of this award is chosen based on Gilstrap’s ideals, which include a sincere desire for learning, active involvement in school and in community service as well as applying one’s self to career development, all while demonstrating high standards as a person and placing the highest value on family and friends.

This year’s recipient is Ani Sarkissian, a Glendale resident who graduated in June from La Cañada High School. She will attend Cal State San Luis Obispo in the fall with a major in civil engineering.

At La Cañada High, she was an elected class representative to the School Site Council for four years, serving as election chair as a junior and sole student representative to the budget subcommittee as a senior. She was the founder of the Bookworms Club, member of the speech and debate team and was a member of the Math, Spanish and Literary Magazine Arts clubs as well as Harry Potter Dumbledore’s Army.

Sarkissian was a distance runner on the high school track team and was also a member of the cross-country team.

She was a member of Mu Alpha Theta Math Honor Society, the National Honors Society for Speech and Debate as well as the National Honor Society and California Scholarship Federation.

The highlight of her senior year was participating in a Jet Propulsion Laboratory/NASA internship, where her team won Best Design for the comet lander the team designed, built, tested and marketed for NASA’s Rosetta Project.

Sarkissian was also a member of La Cañada Girl Scout Troop 14881, achieving the Gold Award as a senior for planning, organizing and conducting eight “Express Yourself through Art” workshops for second-graders at the La Cañada Child Education Center.

She volunteered as a Girl Scout camp counselor for two years, planned a “Secret Safari” as a sophomore, and hosted three junior tours to the Grammy Museum, Hollywood Bowl and Disney Concert Hall.

The 2015 College Sorority Member Scholarship recipients include Isabel Hodgson of Glendale, who is a member of Delta Gamma at Syracuse University, majoring in finance and retail management; and Marisa Gonzales of Montrose, who is member of Zeta Tau Alpha at the University of Miami, majoring in psychology.

Each recipient holds an officer position in their sorority, and each also participates in a variety of campus and community activities.

High school scholarship recipients from Glendale include Leona Abrahamian, a graduating senior of Clark Magnet High School, who will attend Cal State Northridge; and Olivia Homan, who graduated from Maranatha High School and will attend DePaul University in Chicago.

Glendale Panhellenic officers and volunteers are President Janice Paul, La Cañada Flintridge, Delta Delta Delta; Vice President/Benefit Chair Georgine Archer, Burbank, Delta Gamma; Secretary Kim Westhoff, Glendale, Alpha Omicron Pi; Treasurer Elaine Chapman, La Canada Flintridge, Kappa Kappa Gamma; Scholarship Social Chair Jerri Johnson, Pasadena, Sigma Sigma Sigma; and Scholarship Chair Julie Weller, Glendale, Delta Zeta.

Others serving are scholarship committee members Cathy Daniel, South Pasadena, Pi Beta Phi; Lynne Graves, La Cañada Flintridge, Alpha Delta Pi; and Files/Recommendations Chairs Rondi Werner Redmann and Deb Ann Orfalea, both of Glendale and members of Zeta Tau Alpha.

The group was established in 1947 and serves the Glendale, La Crescenta and surrounding areas with member volunteers coming from one of the 26 sororities recognized by the National Panhellenic Conference.

For more information about the group, visit glendalepanhellenic.org. Volunteers are needed to become sorority alumnae chapter delegates or individual members in the group. In addition, high school or college women interested in information about or assistance with NPC sorority recruitment in the fall 2015 or spring 2016 can find additional information on the website.

Assisting women on the college path

Assistance League of Glendale presented $1,000 scholarships to each of seven young women who graduated in June from Glendale public high schools or are attending Glendale Community College.

Recipients are Nicole Colindres, Hoover High School; Tiffany Duarte, Crescenta Valley High School; Yessica Terrazas, Allan Daily High School; Bethany Sherman, Glendale Community College; Lucia Barriga, Glendale High School; Xochil Garcia, Clark Magnet High School; and Serena Zadoorian, Glendale Community College.

Assistance League of Glendale focuses on local community needs. Members raise funds at the Thrift Alley resale shop, 314 E. Harvard St., in Glendale, to provide clothes and hygiene packs for elementary school students. They also promote literacy through “Authors and Illustrators Day,” when children’s writers and illustrators visit Glendale schools.

Members also provide low-cost SAT classes twice a year as well as vocational training for challenged adults and a monthly luncheon and activities for seniors.

Assistance League also recently installed its officers and honored two special members at the Oakmont Country Club.

Outgoing President Karen Millman handed the gavel to Incoming President Mary Lo Follett.

In addition, Nancy Frazee, past president and the first chair of “Authors and Illustrators Day” in 1997, was recognized for her 40 years of service to the chapter. Natalie Abrahamian received recognition for 20 years of service.

For more information, call (818) 247-4296 or email info@alglendale.org.

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JOYCE RUDOLPH can be reached at rudolphjoyce10@gmail.com.