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Continuing one of the Lowell Alumni Association's finest traditions, more than $60,000 in scholarships and awards was distributed to some of Lowell's most outstanding students this past May as part of the LAA's scholarship program. Of the 41 recipients, 38 are members of the class of 2005 and two are earlier graduates who are receiving continuing scholarships as Levin scholars. And the final recipient, Anthony Sharkey, is a member of the Lowell class of 2006 who was selected to receive the first-ever Vicki Chin Memorial Writing Award, established to honor the memory of the late Vicki Chin '67, one of Lowell's most dedicated teachers.

This year's scholarship winners can be found all over the country, from Vermont to Texas and California to Massachusetts. And don't forget what some college admissions officers lovingly refer to as the "fly-0ver zone" - we've even got one scholar at Grinnell College in Iowa! Ten of this year's recipients are studying at Berkeley, five are freshmen at Harvard and you'll find four each at Stanford and UC Davis.

Another newly-established award, the Nicholas Ng Memorial Scholarship, honors the memory of this class of '92 alum who passed away in 2003 and is a gift from Nick's parents, Helen and Francis Ng. This very first recipient of the Ng Scholarship, Yuriy Shepelev, is a perfect match because he is attending Berkeley to study computer science, just as Nicholas did.

While individual scholarship amounts vary, the vast majority of recipients are awarded $750 or more, with a dozen students receiving at least $2,000. The Lowell Alumni Association now manages endowed scholarship funds in excess of $1 million, according to Wendy Drefke Shinbori '68, the indefatigable chair of the LAA Scholarship Committee. Each year, Wendy and her loyal band of volunteers devote two very long days to interviewing more than 60 scholarship candidates, but she reports " it's really the most rewarding work you can do because you're reminded every year of the truly remarkable students we have at Lowell, many of whom are the first in their family to attend college." Congratulations and best wishes to all of this year's scholarship recipients!