PORT ANGELES — Andrea LaFritz and Elizabeth Livesay, both Stevens Middle School eighth-grade students, have been awarded the 2010 Gladys Christopher Pollanz Promise Scholarships.
The two students received on Monday the promise of a $24,000 college scholarship each, $6,000 per year for four years, providing they meet scholarship criteria and graduate from Port Angeles or Lincoln high schools.
The Promise Scholarship was started by Pollanz’s family in 2005 and is awarded yearly with the help of the Port Angeles Education Foundation and the staff of Stevens Middle School.
Other finalists from Stevens for the 2010 Promise Scholarship were Emily Asher-Stone, Seth Bell, Justine Clifford, Mashayla Edgmon, Paige Reed, Brandy Wasankari, Cassandra Walker and Quenton Wolfer.
Pollanz graduated from Port Angeles’ Roosevelt High School in 1923 as salutatorian of her class.
After her father died, she worked as a legal secretary, rather than attending college, to help support her family.
She worked hard through the years, investing in the stock market.
When she died in March 2003, Pollanz left $1 million to establish a scholarship fund for high school graduates to attend college.
The Promise Scholarship, similar to the Washington Higher Coordinating Board’s College Bound Scholarship, is awarded to Port Angeles eighth-grade students.
The program’s goal is to help students focus early on being successful in high school, while knowing in advance they have an opportunity to attend college.
