At their June 4 meeting, the Burbank Noon Rotary club awarded two $1,000 Woodburn Engineering Scholarships to Burbank High School senior Erik Harutyunyan and Burroughs High School senior Anika Maskara. As well, the club awarded a $1,000 Monterey Scholarship to Monterey High School senior Ashley Rios.
Those applying for a Woodburn Engineering Scholarship must be college-bound engineering students who have above-average grades and demonstrate leadership and good citizenship. The Monterey Scholarship award helps motivated students to overcome obstacles and continue their education, be it in college or in a vocational training program.
“It’s a testament to our school district that we have such fine students,” remarked Burbank Noon Scholarship Committee Chair Paul Herman. Burbank Noon members Carole Collins and Cynthia Wagner also served on the Scholarship Committee, which oversaw the selection of the award recipients.
Woodburn Engineering Scholarship Recipients Harutyunyan and Maskara
Scholar-athlete-entrepreneur Harutyunyan has earned a 4.34 GPA and is a finalist for the National Football Foundation Scholarship. With a team of other engineering students, he designed and built from scratch a solar-powered racing boat. 
Harutyunyan is the founder and CEO of Something Different, LLC, an Amazon retail company that conducts research on trending products, and contacts foreign manufacturers to produce similar products under its own private label. The products are then sold on Amazon’s marketplace.
He is also a CEO with a heart. He volunteered on the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Student of the Year Campaign, serving as the campaign manager for Team Burbank. Under his leadership, Team Burbank raised over $40,000.
Harutyunyan will be attending UC Berkeley, where he plans to double major in engineering and business economics…and give the NFL a shot.
Burbank High Assistant Principal Steven Hubell was on hand to congratulate Harutyunyan.
Anika Maskara is 3rd in her graduating class with a 4.45 GPA. She volunteered over 150 hours on behalf of the City’s libraries, having served as President of the Burbank Public Library Teen Advisory Board. She also worked as a paid intern at Burbank Water and Power, working with employees in energy conservation, water services, and electrical services.
Anika will be attending Princeton, where she plans to major in engineering with an eye to having a career in aerospace.
Anika was in India at the time of the Rotary Noon scholarship award presentations.
Monterey Scholarship Recipient Rios
In spite of having dealt with many obstacles on the home front, Ashley Rios is on track to receiving her GED this October. She intends to begin the Certified Nursing Assistant program at the Burbank Adult School next February. She impresses everyone who meets her as “sincere and hardworking, someone who will carve out a bright future for herself.” Assistant Monterey High principal David Guyer was on hand to congratulate Rios.
Burbank Noon’s Ongoing Commitment to Burbank Students
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Matt Hill praised Burbank Noon’s “first-backpack-to-scholarship” support for students. Burbank Noon’s traditional funding from scholarships comes from its long-established Burbank Foundation, which enables the club to give out Monterey Scholarship awards, as well as to support other community programs.
More recently, the late Jim Woodburn, who had been a longtime Burbank Noon member and BWP’s Chief Engineer for two decades, had bequeathed to the Burbank Foundation a generous, additional endowment for scholarships intended to encourage careers in science and engineering.
