Alumni scholarships award

This is the second year the Grand Coulee High School Alumni Association has considered scholarship applicants from other high schools as well as Lake Roosevelt. Scholarships in the amount of $500 each were awarded to two graduating seniors: Paige Dice, Newport (Washington) High School and Baylee Easterday, Chiawana High School, Pasco, Washington. Paige is the daughter of Dan and Nicole Dice and is eligible for the award through her grandmother, Ida Faye Flowers Dice, a member of GCHS Class of 1959. Paige plans to attend the U of Idaho and study criminology and hopes to work as a criminal profiler. Baylee is the daughter of Shani and Cully Easterday and her eligibility for the scholarship is through her grandmother, Carleta Rawe Ayling, GCHS Class of 1965. Baylee will attend College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, where she will major in government and then attend law school.   

Three of the four continuing-education scholarships for $500 each, for those who have successfully completed at least one year of college and are direct descendants of former Grand Coulee District 55 students, went to repeat recipients. Nicole Coppersmith, Davenport, received a scholarship as a graduating high school senior last year and will be a sophomore this fall at WSU, where she is working toward her goal of becoming a pediatrician in a rural community. She is eligible for the award as the granddaughter of Margaret Rice Kendall, a 1952 graduate of GCHS. Colt Sanford, Harrington — whose late great-grandfather, Frank Sanford (’37), grandfather, Del Sanford (’60), grandfather, Glenn “Bugs” Shear (’65), and grandmother, Linda “Sue” Jasper Shear (’66), all attended school in District 55 — was awarded a scholarship for his second year at Walla Walla Community College in the Electrical Technology Program. The third second-time recipient is Taylor Haven, Elyria, Ohio, who will be a senior at Bowling Green State University, where he is working toward a BA in Biology with a minor in geology. Taylor’s eligibility is through his grandparents, Ed (’52) and Carolyn Bowman Haven (’58). Receiving the scholarship for the first time is Richard “Setty” Pryor, the grandson of Rod Pryor and Shirley Setty Pryor of Yakima, both GCHS graduates in 1954. Setty will be finishing an internship with Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories at the end of the summer and will concentrate his senior year at WSU on his degree in International Economics and Development.

The Association was unable to award as many scholarships this spring as last, as the money awarded each year comes from membership dues of $10 a year per member or the Lifetime Membership of $500 for an individual or couple. Following the all-class reunion in 2016, new lifetime memberships increased and $4,000 was available to award in 2017 scholarships. This year’s total of $3,000 in awards brought the total for scholarships awarded the past 18 years to $24,000. Hopefully the next all-class reunion, scheduled for the second weekend of August 2020, will once again spur interest in alumni who haven’t yet joined the association to make a commitment and increase the amount available the following spring. The association includes not only those who were fortunate enough to graduate from Grand Coulee High School, but also any person who at any stage of his or her education was enrolled in the Grand Coulee school system or employed by the district.