LIONS CLUB SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM
Scholarship Committee
Bob Boynton, Chair
Lori Orzech, Vice Chair
Jim Bausano
Claudia Diamond
Marlene Henderson
Kent Hughes
Jancie Hughes
Joe Rooyakkers
Helen Sedlar
Chuck Soucy
This Committee of the Lions Club Foundation meets 1-2 times a year. Applications from seniors at Middle Park and West Grand High Schools are collected in the early spring and distributed to the Committee for their review and evaluation. The principal meeting of the Committee occurs in early May when scholarship winners are selected. At this same time, the Committee selects the annual winner of the Lions’ Early Childhood Educator scholarship with key input from Grand Beginnings.
The Fraser River Valley Lions Club has offered college scholarships to Middle Park High School graduates since 1984 and to West Grand High School seniors since 2020. Over this time period, the Lions Club has awarded over $420,000 in scholarships to students pursuing 4-year and 2-year degrees as well as trade/technical school training. Beginning in 2020, the Club created a special scholarship for Early Childhood Educators to help them further their education and pay retention bonuses to early childhood teachers who stay and work in Grand County.
Specific scholarship offerings may change from year-to-year but generally consist of:
- 4-year college scholarships for $1,000/yr.
- 2-year community college/trade/technical school scholarships for $1,000/yr.
- A memorial scholarship paying $1,000 for one year
- Early Childhood Educator scholarship paying up to $7,100 over 3 years.
A memorial scholarship honoring long-time Fraser River Valley Lions Club member, Mary Ann Radkowski, has been offered for 13 years. Biographical information on this Lion is provided below. From time-to-time other memorial scholarships are offered by the Club, typically on a one-time basis, funded by donations from deceased Club member’s family and friends.
MARY ANN RADKOWSKI COMMUNITY SERVICE SCHOLARSHIP
Mary Ann Radkowski (1938 – 2009) lived a life that anyone would be proud to claim as his or her own. She cared passionately about many things, excelled in so many areas, and gave of herself to help others, especially children. Mary Ann was born in New York City and earned her medical degree in 1964 from the New Jersey Medical School in Pediatric Medicine. She was a pioneer in the field of Pediatric Radiology. She became a topnotch researcher, clinician, and teacher in this field at both the University of Chicago and Northwestern University. She was widely published in her chosen field. Her lifelong love of children fueled her to serve children in another important way: Mary Ann became an expert in the area of child abuse, ultimately becoming a child advocate in numerous legal proceedings. In her own words in a 2000 article in her alma mater’s Alumni Focus magazine, Mary Ann described the challenge of combining the diverse but complementary fields of radiology and child abuse: “I had to keep up with both the technical advances in radiology and with medical and legal developments in the field of child abuse.”
Mary Ann retired from her medical work in 2000 and relocated to Tabernash. She had begun her love affair with the Colorado mountains 30 years earlier, drawn here by the natural beauty and contentment as well as the work of the National Sports Center for the Disabled (NSCD). Here she channeled her love of children into numerous community service activities in the valley, including Shining Stars, the NSCD (especially therapeutic horseback riding), Fraser Elementary School (as a Reading Buddy), and the Fraser River Valley Lions Club (where she gave freely of her time, expertise, and good humor to many activities that raised funds that were returned to the local community). Her dedication to community service here in the Fraser Valley led to the creation in 2009 of this Fraser River Valley Lions Club memorial scholarship for a student at MPHS with a truly exemplary record of community service.
Mary Ann was a generous financial contributor to the New Jersey Medical School where she endowed a medical scholarship in her mother’s name. At Northwestern she served on the Admissions Committee and was a strong advocate for applicants striving to make a positive contribution to their community and who worked to put themselves through school.
Mary Ann Radkowski loved the Fraser Valley. She played classical guitar, hiked regularly with her beloved dogs, and was an avid alpine and cross-country skier