The Pa‘ia Youth & Cultural Center has named Lotus (Max) Van Alstine and Kaya Glomb recipients of this year’s PYCC Scholarship Fund. The scholarship, which has been in existence since 2005, is open to any multi-year active member of PYCC who is a high school senior, has a GED, or is in their first year of community college.
Van Alstine, who will graduate from King Kekaulike High School magna cum laude, was awarded $1,500. The senior will attend The New School in Manhattan, New York in a dual major program pursuing a BFA in design at The Parsons School of Design and a BA in history at The Eugene Lang School of Liberal Arts.
“PYCC has meant a great deal to me and I have spent countless hours there, especially in my childhood,” Van Alstine said. “I loved to spend time cooking in the kitchen with Ben Rachnus and broadcasting on the radio with my friends. PYCC was, has been, and is a place of opportunity, learning, and fun for half of my lifetime. In 2016 I had an amazing opportunity to become an intern for RadiOpio. This internship was extended until the summer of 2017, and I feel that it offered me great insight into my abilities as an employee and what I should and should not do in future employment.”
Glomb, who also is a King Kekaulike senior, said she has made lifelong friends with peers and staff at PYCC. With a 3.6 GPA and the $1,500 scholarship award, she will attend Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York and major in creative writing and minor in theater. Glomb, who has been going to PYCC since she was nine years old, said the experience has taught her valuable life skills. “Laura Civitello has taught me amazing radio skills I will carry on with me as well as great advice I can always use,” Glomb said. “Ben Rachunas has taught me how to be more independent, and make delicious courses as well as how to get back up when you keep getting knocked down. He has helped shape me into the person I am today; when someone hurts my feelings instead of sitting in the grass and crying I let them know that they cannot treat me like that. I have come a long way with people stepping on me thinking I wouldn’t care or notice, but the experiences I gained from my nine years at PYCC have taught me how to be the bigger person, how to laugh at myself when I make a mistake, or to laugh off a mean comment. Each staff member that has come and gone while I have been at PYCC has helped me some shape or form and for that I am eternally grateful.”
Each scholarship candidate has to submit an application and be personally interviewed. This year the Campbell Family funded the PYCC Scholarship Fund.
Photos: Pa‘ia Youth and Cultural Center
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