DWSOC Scholarship Winners at Senior Awards Night

DWSOC 2019 Scholarship Winners

The Democratic Women of South Orange County (DWSOC) is a charted club of the Democratic Party of Orange County. On May 23, 2019 the DWSOC was honored to present 7 scholarships to high school students in Southern Orange County for their commitment to promoting democratic ideals in their community. 

Graduating High School Senior Students from Dana Hills High School, San Clemente High School and San Juan Hills High School competed for up to $1,000 in awards, where they had to demonstrate democratic ideals through community involvement and write an essay on one of the following topics: What does Democracy mean to you? How do you want to be the Change you Wish to see in the World? And if you could wave a magic wand, What Changes would you make to our Political System?
Scholarship Winners  at DWSOC Meeting on June 3, 2019
DWSOC 2019 Scholarship Winners:

Dana Hills High School
Kieran “Niko” Frost
Lauren West

San Clemente High School
Ryan Baxter
Peyton Gadbury
Landon Russell

San Juan Hills High School
Celia Aguilar
Hannah Hughitt
We were thrilled with the caliber of our applicants, their thoughtfulness and what they have already accomplished in a relatively short amount of time. These graduating high school seniors have all demonstrated exceptional leadership, extensive community involvement and the highest concern for Democratic issues. Our Award Winners have organized demonstrations against gun violence with the Parkland High School students March for Our Lives movement and have volunteered on local and congressional political campaigns. These students have been giving a voice to those who do not have the resources to advocate for themselves, registering and canvassing voters, raising the public consciousness of environmental issues, helping underserved communities, founding local student coalitions for change, and so much more.

“They surpassed our expectations of what we envisioned for this scholarship, their ability to mobilize individuals, find common ground and work with others to create positive change in the community is something we should all aspire to” said Kim Anderson, President, DWSOC.

In addition to Scholarship Award Certificates of monetary awards presented to each of our seven winners, the DWSOC gifted each student with former UCI Law School Dean (and now Dean of the Law School at Berkeley) Erwin Chemerinsky’s new book entitled We the People: A Progressive Reading of the Constitution for the Twenty-First Century. This is an excellent study of the Constitution for the youth of our country that strives to educate all on the ideals ensuring democratic rule, effective government, justice, liberty and equality.

Several of our DWSOC winners were finalists in their High School Student of The Year Award and are heading to top universities here in California and throughout the country with fields of study in public health, environmental science, and biomedical engineering. As one of our award winners stated, it is when the youth of today comes together for the common good, when a government reflects the ideals of the citizens it represents and when all people have the social, economic and political freedom to speak out about those ideals, then we can set aside smaller differences in service of a greater purpose.

Presenting the DWSOC Awards at Dana Hills High School was President Kim Anderson of San Clemente, formerly of Laguna Niguel. The DWSOC presenters at the San Clemente High School Senior Awards Night were Scholarship Co-Chair Trudy Podobas and Scholarship Committee Member Susan Goggins, both of San Clemente. At San Juan Hills High School the DWSOC presenter was Scholarship Committee Member Eileen Vansell of San Juan Capistrano.

All seven of the Award Winners will be honored at the DWSOC monthly dinner meeting on June 3, 2019 at 5:30 p.m. at the San Juan Hills Golf Club, 32120 San Juan Creek Road, San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675.