Kiwanis Club announces scholarships for local students
The Sanibel-Captiva Kiwanis Club recently announced its Kiwanis Scholarship Awards Program recipients for the coming 2023-24 school year. This year, 20 students received scholarships.
They were introduced and honored at the SanCap Chamber’s luncheon meeting in June.
With the club’s fundraising efforts interrupted due to Hurricane Ian, it turned to donation support from its members, private individuals and major-level corporate sponsors, including the Sanibel Captiva Community Bank, Pagel Foundation and Tim O’Neill.
“We had a strong feeling that we needed to find a way to keep the program going this year despite losing our usual funding activities,” President Joel Goodman said. “Fortunately our members, friends and sponsors came through.”
Repeat multi-year scholarships were presented to Daisy Arensman, Arabella Arado Lilleslatten, Riley Mann, Aisha Smaller, Kiandre Smaller, Samantha Strickland and Amy Walker; with a new multi-year scholarship awarded to Jackson McKee. One-year scholarships were presented to Brooke Adams, McKenna Adams, Alayna Aracri, Noah Barbot, Calie Connor, Bailey Drobnyk, Sage Holaway, Sam Lessinger, Kaia Miller, Camryn Peach, Daniel Romulus and Daniel Trier.
Some scholarships carried a special designation to honor donors and in memory of past Kiwanis members: Arensman received the Joan Kearny Scholarship; Aisha Smaller received the Carl Dietz Memorial Award; Mann received the Peter Cola Memorial Award; Strickland received the Barry Gordon Memorial Award; Walker received the Tom Jones Memorial Award; and Lilleslatten received the Wally Kane Memorial Award. In addition, two awardees received Sam and Frances Bailey Islands Night Memorial Scholarships: McKenna Adams for achievement in athletics, and Aracri for achievement in community service.
To be eligible, students must have a connection to Sanibel or Captiva, which means they must be residents or have parents who work on-island. The program is overseen by Kiwanians Bill Traum and Chris Heidrick, who accept the applications and submit them for review to an independent board.
Over the past 17 years, the program has provided $615,675 in financial support. It has been made possible by the community’s support of the fundraising activities that the club holds each year, including its Spaghetti Dinner, Diner’s Delight coupon book, golf tournaments and also donations.