The Local Scholarship Committee of the La Palma-Cerritos American Association of University Women (AAUW) held its Twenty-Third Annual Recognition and Awards Program and Brunch at the Cerritos College Board Room on Saturday, April 2. The AAUW Branch proudly presents AAUW scholarships and recognition awards to women students at Cerritos College each spring semester during Women’s History Month in March or in early April. Faculty and staff members of Cerritos College were invited to nominate women students for these awards. The nomination process requires students to submit an application to the Cerritos College Foundation. The application included a personal essay listing the students’ educational goals, community involvement, personal hardships, and two letters of recommendation with at least one letter of recommendation from a faculty or staff member. The Local Scholarship committee then reads the application packets and selects the winners of scholarships funds that were raised by the La Palma-Cerritos AAUW. In addition, the grade point average required for scholarship applicants this year was 3.5 GPA or higher. La Palma-Cerritos AAUW President Paulette Smith welcomed everyone to the recognition and awards program. Smith introduced Tobi Balma, one of the La Palma-Cerritos AAUW’s founding members, helped to start the recognition and awards program 23 years ago. Balma spoke briefly about National AAUW as it worked in the past and also how it continues to work today to advance equity for women and girls through advocacy, education and research. Since Cerritos College is a member of the AAUW, she reminded Cerritos students that they are eligible to join the AAUW and register for a Free Electronic National AAUW Membership by which they can receive e-mails of AAUW materials. When they graduate from a two-year or four-year college and they inform National AAUW, they can receive a free electronic membership for one year. Additional fees are required for membership in state AAUW and local AAUW branches. Balma introduced the informative video, “AAUW Breaking Through Barriers,” which re-emphasized the work that the AAUW has done to achieve equity for women and girls and the need to continue working for equity for women and girls. As part of the program, Steve Richardson, president of the Cerritos College Foundation, thanked the La Palma-Cerritos Branch of the AAUW for working jointly with the foundation since 2012 to recognize and support outstanding women students at Cerritos College with Scholarships. He said that the La Palma-Cerritos AAUW has presented 37 recipients with a total of $27,000 in scholarships over the years. This year, the Local Scholarship Committee selected seven outstanding women students at Cerritos College who will receive a total of $7,000. Each of the seven students will receive $1,000 when they are officially enrolled in a four year college or university. Congratulations were extended to all the Local Scholarship winners by La Palma-Cerritos AAUW President Paulette Smith. Faculty members who were present read their letters of recommendation for each student. Nursing Professor Patty Riedel and Local Scholarship Co-Chairperson Carol Marsh helped to read letters of recommendation for faculty members who could not be present. The following are the La Palma-Cerritos Local Scholarship winners for 2016 listed alphabetically, with their future goals for higher degrees: Portia Broome in Business Administration, Alejandra Carranza in Biology, Samantha Dawson in Geography, Nancy Gomez in Psychology, Japneet Kaur in Business and Informatics, Chyann Richard in Clinical Psychology, and Patsy Rodriguez in Clinical Psychology. The students received certificates of recognition of their achievements from the La Palma-Cerritos AAUW, U.S. Congresswoman Linda Sanchez, State Senator Tony Mendoza, 32nd District, and State Assemblywoman Christina Garcia, 58th District. These awards were presented by La Palma-Cerritos AAUW President-Elect nominee Joyce Grohmann. At the conclusion of the awards program, Local Scholarship Chairperson Carol Marsh thanked everyone who helped to prepare for the awards program and brunch. She especially thanked the parents, family members, friends of the students, Cerritos faculty and staff members who came to honor their students, Cerritos College Foundation President Steve Richardson, and Dr. Shin Liu, President of the Cerritos College Board of Directors. Dr. Shin is also a member of the La Palma-Cerritos AAUW. Marsh also thanked the twenty-four members of the La Palma-Cerritos AAUW who came to the Awards Program and Brunch to honor this year’s scholarship winners and provided a variety of refreshments for the brunch. For more information about joining the La Palma-Cerritos AAUW, contact Membership Vice- Presidents Sue Solomon at 562-926-2746 or Barbara Sparks, at 562-921-7307 or AAUW websites at http://www.aauw.org or http://aauw-ca.org. The public is invited to the next meeting of the La Palma-Cerritos AAUW which will be held on Thursday, April 21, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.at the La Palma Community Center King Palm Room, at 7821 Walker Street in La Palma.