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Five seniors awarded scholarships

Scholarship award winners are (from left) Quinn Costanzo. Luke Kishna, Amani Salti, Acacia Uechi, and Cecilia Wischmeier.

Five area graduating seniors have been awarded scholarships by the Rotary Club of Lakewood-Rocky River.

Recipients include Luke Kishna, Amani Salti and Cecilia Wischmeier from Rocky River High School, Quinn Constanzo from Lakewood High School, and Acacia Uechi from Lutheran West High School. Each will receive a $3,000 award from the Lakewood-Rocky River Rotary Foundation. This $15,000 scholarship program is part of over $60,000 that the Rotary club donates to the community each year.

In addition to demonstrating academic achievement and potential, the five scholarship winners were chosen for their character, as well as extracurricular and community involvement.

Geist honored for 50 years of Rotary

District 6630 Governor Pat Myers congratulates Thom Geist on 50 years of membership in the Rotary Club of Lakewood and Rocky River.

When Thom Geist joined the Rotary Club of Lakewood and Rocky River in June of 1970, his father asked him why he wanted to go to lunch with a bunch of old guys who sat around and sang songs. It didn’t take long for Geist to realize that there was far more to Rotary.

Honored last month at the 2021 Ohio Rotary District Conference for his 50 years of service as a Rotarian, Geist has served on various club committees and in numerous leadership roles including as the club historian.

He led the club as president from 1984-1985 when the Rotary Club of Lakewood and Rocky River was the third largest club in District 6630. Subsequently, he was elected to the club’s Foundation board where he served as chair.

Speech, music, arts award winners

Winners of Rotary’s Four-Way Speech Contest and visual arts competition have been announced.

Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Lakewood and Rocky River, the contest annually showcases the incredible talents of students attending one of five high schools – Lakewood, Lutheran West, Magnificat, Rocky River, and St. Edward.

Beck Center for the Arts in Lakewood has been a valued partner of Rotary for this event, serving as the liaison to educators at the high schools and providing the venue and judges for various phases of the competitions.

Typically, the speech contest finals take place in person during a Rotary club meeting, and all the winners are honored at an award ceremony at the Beck Center. Instead, the speech and music contests were held online.

The student winners were announced in a virtual awards ceremony video prepared by Beck Center. It was featured on Beck Center’s Facebook page and the Rotary club’s Facebook page. It is still available for viewing.