Turtle Wing Awards Academic Scholarships

Pictured (left to right): Gigi Marburger (Head of Scholarship Committee), Kari Tumis (Scholarship Committee Member, Turtle Wing Board Member), Destiny Psencik (Executive Director, Turtle Wing Foundation), Hayden Schulz (Grow Wings Scholarship Winner), Jake Yackel (Jack Hooper Memorial Scholarship Winner), Lana Leopold (Give Wings Scholarship Winner), Becca Edmiston (Scholarship Committee Member, Turtle Wing Board Member), Phyllis Fritsch (Outreach Coordinator, Turtle Wing Foundation), and DeeAnn Hooper (Founder and Board President, Turtle Wing Foundation). Not pictured is Morgan Machac (Grow Wings Scholarship Winner).

Turtle Wing Foundation considers Community Education and Advocacy a critical part of their programming. Encouraging youth to be supportive of their peers with learning differences, promoting fields of service that would encourage young adults to explore careers that would involve providing therapeutic or academic services to the children and families served by Turtle Wing, and attracting or encouraging additional service providers to the rural areas they serve are just a few items that fall under this program area.

For the fourth year now, Turtle Wing has awarded academic scholarships to graduating high school seniors attending school in the heart of the Turtle Wing service area which is Fayette, Colorado, and Lavaca counties. This project is intended to further the mission of Turtle Wing and in turn help all children become the best they can be, helping them to fly academically, socially and emotionally. The Turtle Wing scholarship committee was honored to have 92 applications, and had a very difficult time selecting from such a great group of applicants.

The Jack Hooper Memorial Scholarship was awarded to Jack Yackel of St. Paul, Shiner. The scholarship committee considered if the applicants exhibited the qualities of Acceptance, Kindness, Inclusion, and Service. This might have been exhibited through volunteerism, work or life experiences. Morgan Machac of Rice Highschool and Hayden Schulz of Schulenburg High School were each selected to receive the Grow Wings Scholarship, which was restricted to students actively participating in special education or following a 504 Plan. The final scholarship, the Give Wings Scholarship, was directed towards applicants who are pursuing an education that will lead them to working with children with learning challenges in some way. Lana Leopold was the winner of this final scholarship and is a senior at Hallettsville High School.

Turtle Wing Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that helps individuals with academic, social-emotional, behavioral and/or developmental needs and provided Early Intervention and Supplemental Services to over 300 children last year with thousands more being impacted by community education & advocacy programming.

To learn more about Turtle Wing Foundation “like” their page on Facebook, visit www. turtlewingfoundation.org or contact Executive Director, Destiny Psencik, at (979) 505-5090.