First Year STRIVE Program a Success!

Nine students participated in Buffalo Rotary's first STRIVE (Students Taking Renewed Interest in the Value of Education) program. The students were awarded their Certificate of Achievement at the May 21st Rotary meeting. They shared with the club what they learned by participating in the program. Thank you to Rita Varner-Otness for organizing the program, Mark Jones, Buffalo High School Counselor, for being instrumental in finding students who would benefit from the program, Buffalo Rotarians who took their time to mentor and the STRIVE students for their participation and positive attitudes. The program was a success and we're looking forward to increasing the student/mentor participation to 12 for the 2014-2015 school year.

Buffalo Rotary awarded a $1000 Scholarship to one of the STRIVE students. The student was chosen according to attendance, GPA score, mentor's and school staff's input. Congratulations to Sirena Rodriguez for winning the scholarship! There wasn't a dry eye in the room as Sirena cried happy tears from the excitement of winning the scholarship.

Upper Photo: (Standing) Mark Jones, Rita Varner-Otness, Jason Nelson, Karla Heeter, Jackie Wurm, Kim Carlson, Jolyn Halvorson, Steve Halsey, Cindi Spence and Ken Ogden; (Sitting) David Lee, Jed Wallace, Emily Dearing, Sirena Rodriguez, Alex Pahl, Jon Seaboy and Josh Braxton

Lower Photo: Sirena Rodriguez with her mentor, Kim Carlson