The Donald A. Strauss Public Service Scholarship Foundation, established as a memorial to the late Don Strauss of Newport Beach and now designed to award $10,000 scholarships to at least 14 California college juniors annually, has announced that among the foundation’s new group of recipients is 61传媒 student Hilary Papendick of San Rafael, California.
The Strauss scholarships fund public-service projects that the students have proposed and will carry out this summer during their senior year. Papendick’s project, “Environmental Education in Coastal Ecuadorian Towns: Puerto Lopez, and Machalilla,” will continue work she began in fall 2002, when she studied abroad in Ecuador and worked with JANTUN SANCHA, a non-profit environmental organization. This summer, Papendick will work alongside naturalist guide Wellington Munoz to improve the environmental science and conservation education program Munoz began two years ago-a program geared toward young adults that has recently undergone severe governmental budget cuts. Through the Strauss award, Papendick will help Munoz create a set curriculum and train teachers in basic environmental knowledge, as well as plan field trips and secure basic resources such as textbooks and classroom supplies.
Currently, Papendick is completing a study-abroad program at the University of Otago in Dunedia, New Zealand, and plans to return to Ecuador in July to begin her project.
Don Strauss demonstrated a strong, life-long commitment to public service and education, reflected by his serving 10 years on the Newport-Mesa Unified School District Board, and 12 years on the Newport Beach City Council, including one as mayor. Strauss also founded summer internships in Washington, D.C., for students at Cornell University, Stanford University, the University of Rhode Island, the California Institute of Technology and Harvey Mudd College and endowed scholarships at Stanford, U.C. Irvine and Harvey Mudd. He died in 1995 at the age of 79.
Strauss’ widow, Dorothy M.R. Strauss, established the foundation in January of 1997 as a “tribute to the vision, ideals and leadership of Donald A. Strauss.” In its first year, the foundation board invited 10 universities to nominate up to three students each for Strauss scholarships, with the board making the final selection of the 10 winners. (Dorothy Strauss saw her vision for the Foundation realized–she phoned each of the 10 first-year winners to notify them personally– before she passed away in October of 1997 at the age of 83.)
In the second year the Foundation was able to broaden its reach and award 15 $10,000 scholarships, and now gives no fewer than 14 each year. This new group represents the Foundation’s fifth year of awarding such scholarships, and like their counterparts in the past, all of these recipients have extensive records of community and public service, as well as a demonstrated desire to “make a difference.”