Photo: Contributed

Micaela Humeny and Ben Amos. Micaela was one of three recipients of the Sharon Amos Legacy Fund for the Arts.

The Community Foundation of the South Okanagan is announcing more than $46,000 in bursaries for 22 local students.

“This year six different endowment funds granted bursaries to local students of all ages. These endowment funds have been created by donors who believe in the value of education and its power to improve quality of life for an individual and their family,” said executive director Aaron McRann.

“We had an overwhelming amount of applicants to our bursary program this year,” he added. “In fact, we had almost triple the amount of applicants from the previous year.

Thirteen students received the Dr. John & Kathy Scarfo Fund bursaries, which granted each student over $3,000. The bursary is for students who live an active lifestyle and are pursuing education to improve life for themselves or families.

The winning students are Elizabeth Bent, Laxmi Dangol, Payton Pozzobon, Autumn Cork-Evans, Petra Holler, Christina Boomer, Seanna Zintel, Lara Payne, Laura Doherty, Arianna Johnstone, Alexandria Johnstone, Amanda Watt and Jena Riches.

Three students received the Sharon Amos Legacy Fund for the Arts, which awarded $1,000 to those pursuing education in the arts. Congratulations to Micaela Humeny, Josephine Kay, and Sasha Mandaione.

Four students received support from the South Okanagan Aboriginal Bursary Fund, supporting local aboriginal students. The fund was established by a pair of anonymous donors. Elizabeth Bent, Kalezafar Lawrence, Lyndzie Caron and Melissa Michels each received $400.

Three new awards were established in 2018. The Culver Family Bursary Fund was established to support students entering their second year of humanities. Kaya Colangeli is the first recipient and was awarded $1,200

Lynn & Brian Jackson Endowment for Fine Arts was established with a $500 bursary to support students who are pursuing an education in fine arts programs. The first recipient of this award was Wynn Nordlund.

The Okanagan Chito-Ryo Society Bursary Fund was established by the society to support students in the South Okanagan who are current or past members of the Okanagan Chito-Ryu Society.  The recipient of this award is Simonka Slizek.

“Congratulations to all of the recipients of this year’s bursaries and thank you so much to everyone who applied this year. I encourage everyone to reapply next year when the bursary funding cycle opens again in March of 2019,” said McRann.