Five years ago the PTA at William McKinley Elementary School created the McKinley Alumni Scholarship both to help a young person who went to McKinley as a young child achieve their dreams of a higher education AND to inspire current McKinley students to aim high in their own educational efforts. This year’s recipient, Karen Moreno, has volunteered countless hours at the
Buena Vista library, excelled in numerous ROP courses at John Burroughs High School, maintained exceptional grades and graduated 25th in her class of 666 students. She credits her parents Juan Antonio and Hortencia Moreno with inspiring her to always do her best and leading her to believe that college wasn’t just an option – it was a certainty for her future.
On Friday, May 18th, Karen read her application essay to the staff and students of McKinley Elementary. Also in attendance were BUSD Director of Elementary Education, Dr. Tom Kissinger; School Board Member Ted Bunch; and JBHS Principal Emilio Urioste. Three of Karen’s former teachers were also present for the awards ceremony. Shawn Mulloy and Laura Mixon still teach at McKinley and Marie Coyne is now at Providencia Elementary. In her speech, Karen encouraged the “little panthers” in the audience to work hard in school, but to also make plenty of time to play and be kids.
The 2012 McKinley Alumni Scholarship was for $2012. The money was raised partly by the McKinley students during “College Month” in November, when the children collected spare change in a scholarship jar on their library days. Other donations were contributed by Alumni along with a generous donation local Rancho Realtor and McKinley community partner, Jay Geisenheimer of Rodeo Realty.
