Drive-by event celebrates Flagler County's senior scholarship winners

FPC football player Benjamin Aurore was awarded the Joe Rizzo Memorial Scholarship.

By Observer Staff
| 6:10 a.m. May 16, 2023

Jackson Casteneda received a scholarship from the Flagler Tiger Bay Club. Courtesy photo

Hailey Tucker was awarded the University Women of Flagler Scholarship. Courtesy photo

Ava Houstoun won a Girl Up STEM Scholarship. Courtesy photo

FPC football player Benjamin Larore, with Teresa Rizzo, was the recipient of the Joe Rizzo Memorial Scholarship. Courtesy photo

Kobe Murphy received the David Griffis Memorial Scholarship. Courtesy photo

Abby Amaturo was awarded a scholarship from the Garden Club of Palm Coast. Courtesy photo

Alyssa Pimental was at a voice lesson, so her mom accepted her Flagler Auditorium Governing Board Scholarship. Courtesy photo

Ben Kopach received a Rymfire Elementary School PTO Scholarship and an Antonio Amaral Foundation Scholarship. Courtesy photo

Celeste Baker won a Kimball Family Scholarship. Courtesy photo

Charlotte Fletcher was awarded a Flagler Auditorium Governing Board Scholarship. Courtesy photo

Destiny Ruiz was awarded a scholarship from the Nehemiah Gilyard Scholarship Foundation. Courtesy photo

Elizaveta Guseva received a Girl Up Arts Scholarship. Courtesy photo

Kara Bellerive received a Wheels in Motion Scholarship. Courtesy photo

Genesis Epstein received a Rotary of Flagler County Scholarship. Courtesy photo

Genesis Santiago-Gil received a Rotary of Flagler County Scholarship. Courtesy photo

Gracie Lockey won a Flagler Auditorium Governing Board Scholarship. Courtesy photo

Isabella Papa won a Girl Up Arts Scholarship. Courtesy photo

Isabella Tietje of Matanzas received a Grand Haven Woman's Club Scholarship. Courtesy photo

Jack Lisenby won a Choral Arts Society Music Scholarship. Courtesy photo

Jack Steinwehr won a Flagler Auditorium Governing Board Scholarship. Courtesy photo

Jessica Neal received a Garden Club of palm Coast Scholarship. Courtesy photo

Julianna Bogdanov received the Bruce F. Garrison Memorial Scholarship. Courtesy photo

Flagler Schools' Teacher of the Year Lee Winfrey, right, presents Karson Thomas with his scholarship packet. Courtesy photo

Katie Polak received the Robert Osner Kiwanis Scholarship. Courtesy photo

Kevin Zheng completed the Take Stock in Children scholarship program. Courtesy photo

Kobe Murphy was one of the scholarship winners from the Nehemiah Gilyard Scholarship Foundation. Courtesy photo

Kole Hannant won the Always Sunny Scholarship for a full 2-year tuition plus books to Daytona State College for the HVAC program. Courtesy photo

Lilly Achins won one of the Garden Club of Palm Coast scholarships. Courtesy photo

Lily Hernandez won a Girl Up STEM Scholarship. Courtesy photo

FPC's Lucy Noble, who has a swimming scholarship from Eastern Michigan, can supplement that with her Rotary Club of Flagler County Athletic Scholarship. Courtesy photo

Mary Boland received a Take Stock in Children Scholarship and a Flagler Auditorium Lisa McDevitt Scholarship. Courtesy photo

Maya Palacios received a Grand Haven Woman's Club Scholarship. Courtesy photo

Edwin Moncayo won a Wheels in Motion Scholarship. Courtesy photo

Rosalyn Meeks was awarded a Women United Flagler Scholarship from United Way. Courtesy photo

Savannah Killmer received the United Way's Women United Flagler Scholarship. Courtesy photo

Sean Norris received the Whaam Burger Scholarship. Courtesy photo

Palm Coast Observer
Schools

The Flagler County Education Foundation honored the county's senior scholarship winners from Flagler Palm Coast and Matanzas high schools on May 2 with a drive-by and surprise event.

Representatives from the two high schools, school district staff and local scholarship donors delivered yard signs with their scholarship packets to each recipient’s home.

The late Joe Rizzo, who was the executive director of the Ed Foundation, would have had some dust in his eye when the foundation awarded a football player, Benjamin Aurore from FPC, Rizzo's alma mater, with the Joe Rizzo Memorial Scholarship.

Aurore will playing play football next season at Emporia State in Kansas. For Joe, the foundation was about “making it happen for kids.”

Kobe Murphy was awarded the David Griffis Memorial Scholarship. Griffis passed away in March. He was a well-known coach in the school district, who taught Murphy's mother in elementary school.

Coach Griffis' daughter, Tiffany Fink, is a teacher at Old Kings Elementary School. Griffis' wife, Nancy Griffis, is a retired teacher who taught in Flagler Schools. They present the scholarship to Murphy during the drive-by and surprise event.

The Garden Club of Palm Coast awarded three scholarships totaling $8,000 to students with career ambitions in environmental health sciences.

The scholarships were awarded to Jessica Neal and Lilly Achins of FPC and Abby Amaturo of Matanzas.

The club’s scholarship funds were raised from club events during the year. The club’s biggest annual fund raiser is the Spring Festival and Plant Sale in April. For more information about the Garden Club, go to www.gardenclubatpalmcoast.org.