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Our Third Award - May 16, 2007
Park Vista Community High School Senior, Tegan L. MacDonald, has
received the 2007 scholarship award from the Astronomical Society of
the Palm Beaches. The third annual "Award for Outstanding Scholarship
and Merit in Astronomy" includes a check for $1000 and a year's
membership in the society.
Scholarship Committee Coordinator, Tom Sarko, made the presentation
at the Park Vista Community High School Graduating Class of 2007
Awards Ceremony on Wednesday, May 16. Tegan plans to major in
meteorology at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, FL.
The Astronomical Society scholarship was established by members to
encourage and reward Palm Beach County students with a special
interest in astronomy. Previous awards went to James Melotek of
Spanish River High School in 2005 and Corey J. Kubber of Santaluces
High School in 2006.
Sincerely,
Tom Sarko
ASPB Awards Committee Coordinator
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Tegan L. MacDonald, Tom Sarko
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Our Second Award - May 19, 2006
Santaluces High School Senior and class Valedictorian, Corey J. Kubber, received the 2006 scholarship award from the Astronomical Society of the Palm Beaches. The “Award for Outstanding Scholarship and Merit in Astronomy” includes a check for $1000 and a year’s membership in the society.
Scholarship Committee Coordinator, Tom Sarko, presented the award at Santaluces on Friday, May 5, with Santaluces Principal, Glenn Heyward, and Science Department Co-Chair, Jennifer Rubow, on hand to congratulate the recipient. Corey is currently attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The Astronomical Society scholarship was established by members to encourage and reward Palm Beach County students with a special interest in astronomy. The 2005 inaugural award went to James Melotek of Spanish River High School in Boca Raton.
Sincerely,
Tom Sarko
ASPB Awards Committee Coordinator
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Left to right: Jennifer Rubow, Corey J. Kubber, Tom Sarko, Glenn Heyward
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Our First Award - May 5, 2005
ASPB Scholarship Award Update -- WE HAVE A WINNER!
We have had the most outstanding month since ASPB set up it’s Scholarship Award program! We received a total of SIX applications from students across Palm Beach County. We were fortunate in receiving applications from some of the county’s most gifted senior students. At a meeting held on Wednesday, April 27th, our Awards Committee deliberated over the applications, finally reaching a consensus on the recipient of this year’s $1000 Award. The name and High School of the winning participant will be announced at a future meeting. The award, including a framed certificate, will be presented at that High School’s award ceremony in mid-May.
ASPB sincerely thanks the members of the original ad hoc committee that placed a proposal for an annual award before the Board of Directors. That original committee consisted of Dr. Barbara Kane, Frank Condon, and Hana Hudecek. If it were not for Barbara’s article in “Stars & Scopes”, and the committee’s initial proposal, we would not be in this situation today. I’d also like to thank members of the Board of Directors who provided their own input to the process, which helped mold the proposal that reached the floor of our regular membership meeting.
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Left to right: Charlie Fredrickson, James Melotek, Dan Adams
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I’d like to thank the members of our Scholarship Award Committee, Tom Sarko, Fred Lehman, Jeff Nowak, Ben Kolstad, Dr. Barbara Kane, and Joe Badal, for their support, input, sincere opinions, and time and effort in deliberations at our evaluation meeting. All but Joe were able to make the evaluation meeting.
Thanks are also due to Fred Barch, head Science Program Planner for the Palm Beach County schools, for his gracious assistance in forwarding our award application to each Science Department head and chief guidance counselor, at all Palm Beach County public High Schools. Fred and his staff also provided valuable input regarding the application itself. Special thanks are due to Tom Sarko, who put us in touch with Fred in the first place!
And, finally, thanks to all the ASPB members and friends who gave generously to the Scholarship Award fund. We will be asking for your assistance in the very near future, to grow the award to an even greater amount than this year’s. Remember, your donations are fully tax deductible!
A lot of work still remains before we wrap up this year’s effort. It has been an extraordinary privilege and honor to head up this Committee for it’s Inaugural Award. At our evaluation meeting, we elected Tom Sarko, by acclamation, to head the committee for next year’s effort. I pledge my continuing support to this effort, and request the support of our membership to Tom and the Awards Committee in the year ahead.
Most Sincerely,
Charlie Fredrickson
ASPB Awards Committee Coordinator
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The Scholarship Trust Fund
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On behalf of the entire astronomy club, the Scholarship Award Committee would like to extend its sincere thanks to each and every one of the contributors for their generosity.
In order to provide recognition of a contribution, while retaining confidentiality as to the exact dollar amount, donations have been categorized into four tiers of ascending denomination:
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Any Donation | Asteroid Class |
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$ 25.00 or more | Planetary Class |
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$ 75.00 or more | Nebula Class |
| $250.00 or more | Galaxy Class |
| Person or Organization | Tier | Date |
| Tom Sarko | Galaxy Class | April 2004 |
| Robert Zanger | Planetary Class | March 2004 |
| Richard Lehman | Nebula Class | March 2004 |
| The Cooper Company (by Ben Kolstad) | Nebula Class | March 2004 |
| (Anonymous) | Galaxy Class | March 2004 |
| Frank Condon | Nebula Class | March 2004 |
| Jay Albert | Nebula Class | February 2004 |
| Charlie Fredrickson | Nebula Class | February 2004 |
| Holophase Incorporated (by Fred Lehman) | Galaxy Class | January 2004 |
| Initial seed amount (from the club's general fund) | $500.00 | November 2003 |
| Total: $2,025 Current |
Donations can be submitted in person at the meetings, or if desired, you may mail your check to:
ASPB Scholarship Fund
PO Box 19652
West Palm Beach, Florida 33416
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A Scholarship Award Committee Update (02/25/04)
On Tuesday, February 3rd, a meeting of Palm Beach County High School Science Department heads was held. At that meeting, ASPB member Tom Sarko presented copies of ASPB’s Scholarship Application to each Science department head. So, they are now aware of our desire to identify and reward deserving students in astronomy in our area, Now, we wait patiently as (hopefully) applications come in to our mailbox. In April, we’ll review the applicants, and chose one to receive our inaugural award.
Also, at our last monthly meeting, we received an additional two donations to the scholarship fund, totaling $200. This raises the total amount designated for the Scholarship to $950! Keep in mind that ASPB is a not-for-profit corporation in the state of Florida, and all donations of this sort are fully tax-deductible.
ASPB members: Let’s support this effort with our own donations. The award this year is set for $500, but we can do much better than that incoming years with YOUR support!
More to come at future meetings, here, and in the newsletter.
Charlie Fredrickson
Scholarship Committee Coordinator
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Our first Committee Meeting (01/10/04)
On Tuesday, December 9th, the "kickoff meeting" for ASPB's newly constituted Scholarship Award Committee was held. Due to circumstances beyond our control, the meeting was held at 7 PM at my home rather than at a local restaurant. After salad and pizza, supplied by Zucarelli's, we adjourned to the Living Room to get started with the meeting proper. Present were: ASPB President Fred Lehman, newly elected Board member Ben Kolstad, longtime ASPB members Tom Sarko and Jeff Nowak, new member John Badal, Frank Condon, and myself, Charlie Fredrickson.
Following introductions and statements of what we each "brought to the table", we got down to the proposal as presented at the October meeting. I brought a list of 8 potential high schools to solicit for possible participation in the Award program, gleaned from the internet, and an article on high school involvement in astronomy at one of the local High Schools. There was great interest in expanding the potential list of High Schools to include ALL the public high schools in Palm Beach county. There was brief discussion of extending the award to private schools as well, but this was short-lived. Frank Condon re-iterated his original desire to limit the award to one high school only. There was little interest by other committee members in this proposal.
Tom Sarko presented a copy of a potential application, to be sent to the Science Department Heads of each high school. There was a general feeling that there was a bit too much information required, for such a modest amount as we're proposing. I agreed to work with Tom to re-work the application as needed. Fred agreed to work with Joe on a letter from ASPB, announcing the Scholarship Program, to be sent along with the applications. Jeff agreed to work with Ben to compile a list of all 22 public high school Science Department heads to whom we'll address our proposal. We talked briefly on the subject of funding, then tabled the issue for a future meeting when it can be addressed more fully.
We all agreed that we needed to finalize the letter, application and contact list by early in the new year. We will meet again early in January to complete these tasks, with the objective of having the applications in the hands of the schools in time for an important school meeting in early February.
The meeting adjourned shortly before 10 PM.
For the Scholarship Award Committee,
Charlie Fredrickson
Committee Coordinator
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A Note from our President (11/26/03)
Greetings to all members, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!
At our November meeting, we voted on and approved a framework within which we can build our scholarship program, and we approved the initial seeding of the scholarship fund. Now, we must quickly move forward to establish a solid structure consisting of a standing committee of trustees and a continuing monetary fund. Several volunteers will be needed to fill this committee. Although the scholarship committee will ultimately report to the executive board, it will have an independent autonomy over its own makeup and internal structure. The committee will have the initial responsibility of establishing the guidelines for the very first scholarship award, but more importantly, its ultimate goal is to structure itself to ensure additional awards continuing in perpetuity.
On a personal note, there is no aspect of humanity on which I have stronger convictions. I believe that we must, as adults, devote some portion of ourselves to the education of our youth. Many of us selflessly volunteer our time and our telescopes at public outings at the museum and at the various libraries. Likewise, many of us have benefited from scholarships in our own youth. In the current economic climate, it is more difficult than ever to scrape together the money to finance a college education. It is now our time to "step up to the plate" and put forth our best effort toward helping a few members of the next generation along the path to their own future.
Sincerely,
Fred Lehman
ASPB President
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