The Sun City Sunflower Garden Club awarded two $1000 scholarships to Huntley High School Students at their monthly club meeting on June 15.
Sue Coltman, president of the club, said, “The proceeds from our annual hanging basket sales gave us the funds to award two individuals $1000 scholarships.”
Who got the scholarships?
Darlene Pratt, a member of the Scholarship Team, said, “We selected Caitlyn LeTran and Christine Idowu. Caitlyn is planning to study the earth, society, and environmental sustainability and will be attending the University of Illinois. Christine is majoring in biology and also will be attending the University of Illinois.”
A detailed list of criteria were used to award them the scholarships.
Pratt said, “We had a committee of six who created an application form. Applicants were to be in the area of environmental sciences including biology. Each applicant was asked for a personal statement, involvement in extra-curricular areas, and recommendations. Our goal was to tie the garden club with the student’s field of study. When the applications were received the committee did a blind selection process of students. Only one member of the team knew the names of each student and a rubric was used to develop a scoring system. Each student had a unique identifier. The process took several rounds to select our recipients.”
The two scholarship winners were not the only ones to receive a check from the Sunflower Club. Mary Ann Gower from the Lions Club, also a member of the Sunflower Garden Club accepted a check for $800.
Gower thanked the garden club and said, “Our Lion’s Club will use these funds to help our community. Our efforts and funds are applied to helping and improving the Huntley area.”
The Sunflower Garden Club also provides “twice liked flowers” that are delivered to Deerpath, Alden, or Heritage assisted living facilities. They also take requests from our community.
Teri Stajduhar, coordinator of the effort, said “We hope to bring some cheer to our residents who are going through a tough time. Anyone can request flowers to be delivered when we have them available by contacting me at nanastaj4@gmail.com.”
The Club will hold its annual Garden Walk from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, July 8. Some of Sun City’s outstanding gardens will be showcased. All of the gardens show the creativity of the owners and the joy they receive from developing and caring for a garden that fits their lifestyle.
Vice President of the Club, Paulette Carrion, said, “The Garden Walk is free. We will publish the addresses of the homes on July 7. It will be on our Facebook page, website, Wildflower Lake Facebook page, and flyers with the information at the Social Lounge in the Prairie Lodge.”
