FLAA awards scholarships totaling $14K to graduates

The Fountain Lake Alumni Association recently awarded $14,000 in scholarships to 14 graduates of Fountain Lake High School.

This is the 14th year the alumni association has awarded scholarships. A total of 151 scholarships have been awarded during that time, totaling

$130,700, including this year’s awards, a release said.

The awards included the following:

• Rodrigo Vasquez received

$1,000 from the classes of 1950,

1957 and 1960 in memory of Steve Thomas to attend Southern Arkansas University to study mechanical engineering.

• Sydney Mungle was awarded the $1,000 Barbara Irwin Memorial Scholarship to attend Southern Arkansas University to study nursing.

• A special $1,000 scholarship was generated by the Fountain Lake elementary students and secondary staff members. Mollie Davis was awarded the

$1000 Legacy Scholarship to attend National Park/Henderson State to study elementary education.

• Another special $1,000 scholarship was contributed by Oak Hill Missionary Baptist Church. Annie Westerman was awarded the scholarship to attend Arkansas State University to study psychology and counseling.

• A third special $1,000 scholarship was contributed by the Hines Family and the classes of 1959, 1961, 1962 and 1965 to Marcus Needles to attend the University of Central Arkansas to study exercise science.

• Fountain Lake alumni Curtis Hefley presented two $1,000 honor scholarships. One was awarded to Kamden Garrett to attend the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith to study dental hygiene. The second was awarded to Christopher Burton to attend Arkansas State University to study computer science.

• Seven $1,000 scholarships were awarded from past graduated classes. The recipients, their future schools, and their areas of study are as follows:

Victoria Pike, class of 1956, University of Missouri, broadcast journalism; Erin Graves, class of 1971, Harding University, nursing; Savannah Iglehart, class of 1982, Southern Arkansas University, nursing; Breann Williams, FLAA, University of Central Arkansas, music education; Isabel Butler, classes of 1975/1989, University of Arkansas-Fayetteville, premed and Spanish; Lynley Dean, classes of 1951, 1952, 1953, 1966, Arkansas Tech University, psychology and criminal justice; and Emily Walker, classes of 1963, 1970, 1972, University of Central Arkansas, communication disorders.

Brenda Sellers, vice president and scholarship chairman of the FLAA, said the association engages in activities to raise money to help support the goals that the association has set.

“These fund-raising events have provided the funds for the FLAA to create a Legacy Park on campus, to host all-school reunions, and to purchase some items for various classrooms,” she said.

Sellers said that the organization’s most important goal each year is to raise dollars to award scholarships to eligible graduating seniors. The first scholarships were awarded in 2007 and totaled to be $2,000.

“Many years ago, a meeting was held for the sole purpose of soliciting funds to preserve and frame the Fountain Lake graduating class pictures that had fallen into disrepair during the construction of the new high school,” she said.

“That meeting marked the beginning of the Fountain Lake Alumni Association, which has evolved throughout the years into a far-reaching organization,” Sellers said.