Kyra Horton presents an Interact Club update during a Rotary Club of Surprise meeting.
Jay Lickus, Public Relations Chairman
The Rotary Club of Surprise is excited to announce they have awarded scholarships of $1,000 each to two Surprise students, graduating seniors Kyra Horton and Angelina Minice. Kyra recently graduated from Valley Vista High School and will attend the University of Southern California. She is the immediate past president of the Rotary Interact Club at Valley Vista, which she formed in 2019.
Angelina recently graduated from Willow Canyon High School, and will attend the University of Arizona. The Surprise Rotary Club has provided scholarships to graduating seniors since 2010. Events like their major annual fundraiser, the “Taste of Surprise” and their annual golf tournament called “Fore the Kids” raise the money to support this program. Club member Tom Seros, from Edward Jones, is the youth chair for the Rotary Club of Surprise, and Jim Rumpeltes is the Scholarship Committee Chair.
The Rotary Club of Surprise is part of Rotary International, a service organization with the motto “Service Above Self.” Pre-COVID-19, they met the first and third Thursdays at 5 a.m., at restaurants throughout the Surprise area, and they hope to return to in-person meetings early next year. Currently, their meetings are held at the same time live, via the Zoom online platform. The club hosts two major annual fundraisers: The Taste of Surprise and the Fore the Kids Golf Tournament. Proceeds raised from these events support local education and service work with other non-profit organizations, locally and internationally. In 2018-19, the club was involved in over 40 different service projects.
Rotary International is an international service organization whose stated purpose is to bring together business and professional leaders in order to provide humanitarian service, and to advance goodwill and peace around the world. It is a non-political and non-religious organization open to all. There are over 35,000 member clubs worldwide, with a membership of 1.2 million individuals, known as Rotarians. For more information, contact Public Relations Chair Jay Lickus at 623-734-5438 or www.rotaryclubofsurprise.com.