Scholarship donors honored at reception

Laguna Greenbelt Inc. awarded three scholarships for the first time this year, presented by Bob Borthwick and Patricia Twitty. Ron Harris and Barbara Bowie presented the South Laguna Civic Assn.’s two scholarships, double the usual number.

The delightfully wacky McPhisto Scholarship, which was created 30 years ago by nine Laguna Beach graduates known as the Tripple Dribble Associates to encourage students with humor, is back after a year’s hiatus.

Past recipients Craig Hammil, (1995), Michael Irish (1999) and Luke Sanders (2007), banded together to revive the scholarship. Tripple Dribble members attended the convocation to present the awards with the past recipients, to train them in the McPhisto tradition — pouring out a chest of valueless coins and other hijinks, and set the stage for a new generation of McPhisto Society.

The scholarship program has grown from leaner days though the combined efforts Jan Fritsen, LBHS counselor until 1986, Walt Lawson, counselor through 2001, and now the hard-working Jeannie Harrell, and the scholarship foundation composed of 30 parents and community members.

Harrell serves on the foundation board as scholarship coordinator. Marsha Aronoff will be the new president in the next school year, when Earl steps down, but stay on the board. School Board member Ketta Brown is the secretary, Bob Earl the treasurer.

Members at large include Lee Kucera, Blynn Bunney, Barbara MacGillivray, Mitchellene Channels, Michele Leighton, Fletcher Dice, Gail McClain, Susan Elliott-Richardson, Fariba Mortazabi, Robin Hall, Lauren Packard, Jan Henderson, Kerry Rubel, Angela Irish, Annie Sadler, Martha Jager, Art Smart, Diane Kloke, Deborah Steel, Kimberly Knill, Eleanor Tiner, Kevin Yates, Mary Fegraus and Lawson.

Patti Jo Kiraly and Margie Bell, a board member for 12 years, retired this year. School board member Betsy Jenkins and El Morro Elementary School PTA President Lynn Gregory have been tapped to serve. The foundation became an affiliate chapter of the Dollars for Scholars, a program of the Citizens Scholarship Foundation of America, in 1988. And those dollars make a lot of sense, an investment in the future.

James Hanna graduated from the high school in 1998, picking up scholarships totaling $18,000. The money allowed him to go to Duke University, the school of his dreams, and he also attended the London School of Economics as an undergraduate.