Student receives award from California Scholarship Federation
Kalani Gaviola.
Only five high school seniors in all of California are recognized for this award
– Kalani Gaviola, Paso Robles High School Senior, received the Seymour Award from California Scholarship Federation (CSF). Only five seniors in all of California are recognized for this award, almost every high school in California has a CSF program. For this award California is broken into 5 regions. Each region selects 10 finalists. Those finalists participate in a three hour interview, culminating with five winners selected throughout the State of California, one in each region. Gaviola represents the Central Coast region of California, from the San Jose area to Ventura.
The Seymour Memorial Awards were established to honor both Charles F. Seymour and his wife, Marian H. Seymour, who together supplied the inspiration and leadership which fostered the California Scholarship Federation. The very first award of $25 was presented to Seymour Award recipient Elizabeth Murphy (O’Neil) of Fresno High School in 1936. The five winners in California now receive a $5000 scholarship.
For the past three years, Gaviola has been an active member of her Paso Robles CSF chapter assisting with projects from riverbed cleanup days, to club fairs, and peer mentoring. But, where her voice is most often heard is through her school’s Newsmagazine called Crimson, where she currently serves as the editor in chief for the second year. Her leadership has assisted in the school’s newsmagazine being recognized as the 3rd best high school newsmagazine in the nation, and earning her a Journalist of the year at PRHS last year.
Also on campus, she is the ASB Staff and Student Director for the past two years, where her proudest accomplishment has been to bring to her school, and lead for the past three years, the Culture Expo, an event designed to be a time of laughter, food, learning and acceptance of all student groups. Other leadership roles include serving as president of the superintendent’s council, a member of Rotary International: Interact Club serving as both president (2023) and vice president (2024).
She is also a proud member and vice chair of the mayor’s youth commission which was recently highlighted for their role in creating a teen center in Paso Robles. Gaviola also finds time to run on both cross country and track and field for the past four years. She has already been accepted to the UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and UC Irvine Honors Programs, but says she is still awaiting notification from UCLA, Yale, and Harvard before making her final college decision. She plans to major in either English or Political Science and with the eventual goal of becoming a lawyer.
“Kalani has demonstrated remarkable leadership skills, consistently planning and organizing events and effectively leading the team of students running these events,” says advisor Jenny Martinez, “Her ability to not only come up with innovative ideas, but also execute them with precision and effectiveness is truly commendable. Kalani has shown exceptional organizational abilities, an innate talent for motivating her peers, and an unwavering commitment to the betterment of our school community.”
Link to finalist bios- https://csf-cjsf.org/2023-2024-seymour-awards-north-region-finalists/. Note: This website will be updated with award winners statewide.
Comments
