Special deliveries: Tagging along on Flagler County's Drive-By scholarship nights

The Flagler County Education Foundation hosted the event in which 231 community scholarships were presented to Flagler Palm Coast and Matanzas high school seniors.

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Over the past three years, I have been involved in the Observer’s coverage of the Senior Scholarship Drive-By and Surprise Nights, an event sponsored by the Flagler County Education Foundation.

Dozens of school administrators and staff, community business leaders and members of service organizations ride around the county on two consecutive nights delivering scholarships to Matanzas and Flagler Palm Coast high school graduating seniors.

This year, 231 scholarships were delivered on May 7-8, the Ed Foundation reports. I’ve been intrigued by the event with carloads of community leaders providing scholarships to seniors at their homes to help support their college education or vocational training.

So, this year I decided to join in. I followed a carload of scholarship presenters on each of the nights. It was a little bit like Christmas, but for some it was also like Halloween with the doorbell constantly ringing with yet another scholarship award.

Angelina Manjarres celebrated all night with her extended family. By the time we arrived at the FPC senior’s home, she had eight scholarship signs lined up on her front lawn.

My experience was just a small slice of an emotional two nights of celebration, hugs and gratitude.

Here were the highlights:

FPC’s Manjarres collected more scholarships than I could jot down in the time allotted, and it didn’t take long to see why. For one, she has a large family supporting her. She has been accepted into the Honors Carolina program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she will major in biomedical engineering with her sights set on becoming an orthopedic surgeon.

Manjarres will be giving a speech at FPC’s graduation ceremony focusing on who you want to be rather than what you want to do. I asked her who she wants to be.

“I want to be like my sister (Aimee Melendez who works for Homeland Security),” Manjarres said. “She’s the kindest person I know.”

Matanzas High’s Violet Ochrietor recently was honored as one of three Flagler Schools volunteers of the year. So it was no surprise that she received a scholarship from Women United Flagler.

“We look for students who embrace their community through volunteerism,” Linda Mahran, president of Women United Flagler, said.

Ochrietor will attend Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and major in aerospace physiology, the study of how the body reacts to extreme environments.

The most touching stop of the two nights for me was when FPC’s Sherlande Paul, a Take Stock in Children graduate, answered her door. Standing there with Paul’s scholarship was her Take Stock mentor, Christy Butler. It was an emotional moment for both of them. Paul, who wants to become a cardiac sonographer, already has about 30 college credits at Daytona State College.

Our first stop on Night one was at Dioz Cruz’s house. A Matanzas High baseball player, Cruz will be a midshipman in the Navy ROTC program at the University of Florida and study kinesiology. Cruz received a Professional Women Leaders of Flagler Scholarship, a Palm Coast Little League Scholarship and a Mayor Mike’s STEM Scholarship. Fellow Matanzas senior Kate Kern also received a Professional Women Leaders of Flagler Scholarship.

Matanzas’ Nyah Burke received the Flagler Women’s Club Kay Johnson Memorial Scholarship. She will attend DSC and plans to major in mechanical engineering.

FPC’s Dakota Baker received a Kiwanis First Responder Scholarship and a Coastal Bible Fellowship scholarship. Baker plans to attend DSC and major in nursing.

Rae Anthony Lewis of FPC received the Andy Anderson Memorial Scholarship. Germayonie Del Angel of FPC will make use of her scholarship awards at the University of Florida where she will major in psychology, specifically behavioral and cognitive neuroscience.

FPC’s Jaena Srivastava stepped outside wearing a University of Miami sweatshirt, just in case we were wondering what school she’ll be attending. Shrivastava plans to major in public advocacy at UM and then go on to law school. She got interested in law, she said, when she became a Teen Court volunteer. She also attended Girls State.

The Drive-By and Surprise Nights began out of necessity during COVID’s lockdown. It immediately became the Ed Foundation’s preferred method of delivering the scholarships. It takes an army of volunteers and a lot of logistics to make it happen. But for the volunteers who honk their horns and greet the students, the proud parents with big smiles on their faces and the students who are ready to begin the next chapter of their lives, it is all worth it. 

 

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