When the owner’s of Cypress Place Senior Living in Ventura decided to create a scholarship fund for local high school students wanting to pursue a college degree, the Cypress Place Senior Living “Senior to Senior” Legacy Scholarship was created.
Cypress Place Senior Living is an independent, assisted, and memory care community for seniors. By awarding two $2500 scholarships to local high school seniors, residents at Cypress Place are attempting to pass on opportunities for young people in the community, according to Steve Spira, executive director at Cypress Place.
Applicants need to have a verified 3.2 or higher GPA and to have applied for fall 2019 admission to a college or university with the intention of obtaining a degree. Applicants were also asked to submit an essay about their reason for pursuing higher education along with a personal account of how a senior or seniors has affected their life, including specific examples of intergenerational experiences of the applicant.
The members of the Resident Scholarship Committee at Cypress Place read the essays, then held oral interviews with the semi-finalists to determine the two award winners.
On May 30, 2019, the awards were presented to Nadia Garcia and Daniel Perez, both of Buena High School. Garcia will be attending Westmont College and will major in math. She would like to be a math teacher. Perez will attend USC and is considering a career in the diplomatic corps or another form of public service.
Family members of the recipients were in attendance, as well as many seniors from Cypress Place. The senior citizens were beaming just as brightly as the recipients during the awards ceremony.
“Tonight, we watched two wonderful high school seniors take another step forward in the direction of their dreams,” said Marion Doane, a resident at Cypress Place, and the Scholarship Committee Chair. “This was the 7th year the Cypress Place owners granted this scholarship to our local Ventura students, and it is a highlight for all of us to be a part of it.”
While enjoying coffee and dessert with the award winners, residents on the Scholarship Committee expressed a true sense of pride and accomplishment in their involvement in the selection process.
As the scholarship awards evening wound down, Garcia and Perez both expressed their appreciation for their awards once again. They both hope to be able to present awards to future Cypress Place Senior Living “Senior to Senior” Legacy Scholarship recipients when they themselves have graduated from college.
