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On the Town: Panhellenic distributes funds and prepares for new year

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The Glendale Area Alumnae Panhellenic has distributed its scholarships and installed officers for the upcoming year.

This Panhellenic chapter serves Glendale, Burbank, La Cañada Flintridge, La Crescenta, Sunland and Tujunga. Members are from any of the 26 sororities recognized by the National Panhellenic Conference.

Established in 1947, the group’s charter is to support local women in pursuit of higher education.

Awards of varying amounts are given annually to eligible area high school senior women who are planning to attend a four-year college or university in the fall, as well as to eligible area college women who are active members in good standing with a National Panhellenic Conference sorority.

The Glendale Area Alumnae Panhellenic presents an annual benefit luncheon to raise money for the scholarships, which include merit-based scholarships and the Mary Ellen Gilstrap Memorial Scholarship.

Gilstrap passed away in 2005. She lived in La Cañada and was a member of the Glendale Panhellenic for 18 years. She joined the Chi Omega sorority at UC Berkeley.

Recipients are chosen based on Gilstrap’s ideals, which include a sincere desire for learning, active involvement in school and in community service with plans for future career development, all while demonstrating high standards as a person and placing the highest value on family and friends.

This year, two students are receiving the Gilstrap award. They are Olivia Homan and Kristen Laulette.

Homan, of Glendale, will be a junior at DePaul University in Chicago in the fall.

She is majoring in business administration with plans to pursue a career in the entertainment or fashion industry. She hopes to study abroad next winter in Sydney, Australia.

Homan is a member of the Delta Gamma sorority and will serve as the director of social events. She is member of the DePaul Democrats and is also a DePaul Ambassador.

Laulette, a 2017 graduate of Glendale High School, will begin at UCLA in September. She plans to major in psychology with plans to follow a career in public health.

At Glendale High, she was a National History Day state finalist, AP Scholar, AP National Honors Society member and earned Top 10 grade-point averages all four years, as well as being named Softball Player of the Year and earning the Student Athlete Award.

Laulette was a volunteer for Glendale Adventist Hospital’s human resources department and was president of the Glendale Youth Corps’ executive board.

The 2017 Merit Scholarship recipients who are collegiate members of a national conference sorority include Kaley Pomeroy, who is a member of Pi Beta Phi at the University of Oregon, and Christine Lockhart, who is a member of Sigma Kappa at Arizona State University.

The 2017 High School Merit Scholarship recipients are Crescenta Valley High School graduates Jeong-A Cha, who will attend Azusa Pacific University and Teny Khachadourian, who will attend USC; and Glendale High School graduate Sarah Brown, who will attend Cal State Long Beach.

Glendale Panhellenic officers and volunteers are Kim Westhoff, president, Glendale, Alpha Omicron Pi; Elaine Chapman, vice president, La Cañada Flintridge, Kappa Kappa Gamma; Jerri Johnson, secretary, Pasadena, Sigma Sigma Sigma; Julie Weller, treasurer, Glendale, Delta Zeta; and Lynne Graves, benefit co-chair, La Cañada Flintridge, Alpha Delta Pi.

Also holding posts are Deb Ann Orfalea, scholarship social chair, Glendale, Zeta Tau Alpha; Janice Paul, scholarship chair, La Cañada Flintridge, Delta Delta Delta; and Georgine Archer, files/recommendations chair, Burbank, Delta Gamma.

Scholarship committee members are Rachel Clugston, Los Angeles, Delta Phi Epsilon; Marta de Paula Cea, La Cañada Flintridge, Pi Beta Phi; and Teri Craft, Altadena, Alpha Gamma Delta.

For more information, visit glendalepanhellenic.org.

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

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