DOWNEY – Continuing a tradition Dr. Mary Stauffer started 20 years ago, 445 Downey Unified School District middle school students recently received a 2022 Stauffer Foundation Scholar Award.

These high-achieving students qualified by receiving all A’s in core subjects as 6th and 7th graders and were offered a $150 check to add to or open a college savings account.

A total of $63,900 was awarded to these students by the Mary R Stauffer Foundation that continues Dr. Stauffer’s legacy.

The two award ceremonies were held in the Downey High and Warren High School gyms respectively for the middle school students that matriculate to them. The DHS Mariachi Band entertained the audience at their school before the ceremony started as did the Stauffer Middle School Banda/World Music Group at WHS.

Two talented singers, Samantha Gregoria from WHS and Rianne Martin from DHS, sang the national anthem to open the ceremonies.

Two local credit unions, Downey Federal and Financial Partners, have supported this effort for several years and were available each night before and after the ceremony to answer questions about opening college savings accounts.

Cheyenne Swenson, a foundation volunteer and teacher at Gallatin Elementary, was the MC and introduced several honored guests. Among them included Dr. John Garcia, DUSD Superintendent, school board members Linda Saldana, Jose Rodriguez, and Nancy Swenson (also the foundation COO), and foundation board secretary Reggie Donahue.

In addition, the high school principals, middle school principals, vice-principals, counselors, and various staff members were in attendance. Before the awards were presented Janet Suzuki, a daughter of the founder and CEO, explained that her mom created this award to help students in the community prepare financially for college long before graduating from high school.

The program concluded with the announcement of the “2022 Stauffer Foundation Scholar of the Year” winners, two from each middle school.

Mary R. Stauffer Foundation Announces Winners for $500 College Savings Awards

The Stauffer Scholars were all invited to apply for the prestigious “2022 Stauffer Foundation Scholar of the Year”. One hundred ninety-three applied, from which eight were selected. The award included an additional check for $500, a “2022 Scholar of the Year” T-Shirt & Certificate, and the student’s name engraved on a permanent plaque in their middle school office.

The application included a resume that showed school and community activities and an essay on Character Counts. Foundation volunteers scored the essays based on a consistent rubric. The winners were selected based on the essay scores, their resume, and GPA.

These winners were announced by each middle school principal at the end of the awards ceremony:

Doty Middle School: 7th grader Monet Baez-Garcia and 8th grader Melina Ifantis

Griffiths Middle School: 7th grader Ava Alvarez and 8th grader Carly McDermott

Stauffer Middle School: 7th grader Daniella Soto and 8th grader Jacob Galindo

Sussman Middle School: 7th grader Hailey Cueva and 8th grader Mariah Asquerra

The Mary R. Stauffer Foundation is grateful to all the DUSD staff and foundation volunteers that help make these awards ceremonies special.

To continue helping all students and their families to plan financially for college, the foundation is sponsoring a College Savings Workshop Jan. 26. Registration is free at https://tinyurl.com/MRSFCollegeSavings2023