Posted by Marianna Zeidler on Sep 10, 2021
Our club's sponsored high school graduate Adriana Ulloa Alonzo was awarded the $1,500 District 6440 Vocational Scholarship towards a Baking and Pastry Arts AAS Degree at the College of Lake County.  Adriana's goal is to change the "unhealthy" stigma that baked pastries have ... her dream is to develop recipes for healthy cakes!   Additionally, Educate The Children, a charity founded by Marco Island Rotarian, Prem Advani, donated a new laptop for Adriana to start classes this month.  Adriana had been an ETC Recognized student in 2019.  Educate The Children is a 501.c.3 charity that has been helping further the education of over 1000 underprivileged children in over 10 countries since 1999.  educatechildren.org.    This month the laptop was presented by 2003 RYLA International participant, and long time ETC volunteer, Christine Arason who currently teaches Math at the high school Adriana graduated from. While a Junior in high school, Christine Arason had been a youth exchange student candidate slated to travel in 2001.  Fate had it, that September 11 happened that year and the youth exchange dream was scrapped.  However, Christine joined the Interact Club and after graduation, she became the first RYLA International participant from our Rotary District 6440 and travelled to Brisbane, Australia in 2003.  She has been volunteering for Educate The Children ever since, and now ... 20 years later, on the anniversary of that fateful year, hope is transferred forward to younger students that start new dreams and build their lives!