Belfast Rotary Club awarded $80,000 in scholarships on Wednesday, May 25, to 13 graduating students from Belfast Area High School, Mount View High School, Searsport District Middle and High School and the Waldo County Technical Center.

The scholarships, ranging in size from $5,000 to $10,000, were presented by members of the Rotary Club’s scholarship committee, which was led by co-chairpersons Lee Woodward, Jr. and Greg Dutch. The banquet for recipients, family members, school staff, guests and Rotary members was held at the University of Maine Hutchinson Center.

“The students who are receiving these awards are the best of the best,” said Woodward, in a Rotary news release. Woodward has chaired or co-chaired the Rotary Club committee for 18 years.

“Reading their applications and hearing their presentations gives all of us hope for the future,” added one of the Rotary presenters.

Scholarship recipients and their awards included Kricket Thompson and Sydney Vogel of the Waldo County Technical Center, who each received a $5,000 award. Thompson received the Hope & Jesse Rhodes Scholarship and Vogel received the Thomas Lawson Scholarship.

Mia Winslow of Belfast Area High School won the $5,000 F. Frederick Romanow Service Scholarship; Audra Faulkingham of BAHS the $8,000 Duane Service Scholarship; Abigail Brown from SDMHS the $5,000 Hawthorne service Scholarship; and Grace Scharlacken, also from SDMHS, the $6,000 Malmberg Service Scholarship.

Jacey Bock and Brynne Sawyer, both seniors at BAHS, received $5,000 Rotary Leadership Scholarships. In addition, Greta Ahlefeld from MVHS won the $5,000 Manley Rogers Leadership Scholarship; Maiara Rebordao from BAHS the $6,000 Pitman Leadership Scholarship; Dakota Jones of MVHS the $7,000 Malmberg Leadership Scholarship; Cole Ellis of SDMHS the $8,000 Duane Leadership Scholarship; and Savannah Springer of BAHS the $10,000 Robert M. Hooper Memorial Scholarship.

Over the past 42 years, Belfast Rotary Club has awarded almost $1,100,000 in scholarships to just over 300 Belfast area student, with yearly award amounts increasing from $1,000 in 1982 to $80,000 this year. The awards, now funded entirely from the Rotary Club’s endowment, are the largest of several projects that Rotary carries out year-round.

Last year, Rotary provided more than $140,000 annually in scholarships, holiday gifts, food pantry and soup kitchen support, donations for special community projects and help for families in need.

The 70-member Club, dedicated to community service, will celebrate its 100-year anniversary in 2025.