Home Page | Rotary Club of Lakewood & Rocky River

Rotary awards scholarships
to seven high school seniors

The 2026 scholarship recipients honored by the Rotary Club of Lakewood and Rocky River are (from left) Mia Thomas, Ella Bower, Ruby Fraunfelder, Evan Seiler, Alexandra Adamov, Amelia Diemert, Cecilia Whiteamire; and Rotary Scholarship Chair Jon Fancher.

The Rotary Club of Lakewood and Rocky River awarded college scholarships to seven area graduating seniors at its weekly lunch meeting on June 1. While applicants can attend any high school but need to reside within the Lakewood or Rocky River city school districts, this year, all recipients happened to be students at Lakewood High School.

The seven scholarship winners were chosen for their character, academic achievement, extracurricular involvement and community service.

Recipients were Alexandra Adamov, Ella Bower, Amelia Diemert, Ruby Fraunfelder, Evan Seiler, Mia Thomas, and Cecilia Whiteamire.

Rotary recognizes speech, music,
visual arts student achievement

Winners of Rotary’s Four-Way Speech Contest, and the annual music and visual arts competitions, were honored at a gala event at the Beck Center on April 13.

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

Lakewood High School student Tessa Ritchie placed third at Rotary district 6630's Four Way Speech Contest at Springfield High School in Akron on April 18.

The club’s speech contest first place winner was Tessa Ritchie with a speech entitled, “Beauty Without Bias.” Holly Rogalski earned second place with a speech entitled, “The Negative Impacts of Young "Skin Awareness’.”

Both students represented the club at the Rotary district 6630 competition on April 18, where Tessa Ritchie finished in third place of all high schools participating.

Rotary awards $84,004 in grants

Grants totaling $84,004 from the Lakewood-Rocky River Rotary Foundation will provide scholarships, encourage student achievement, fight hunger, and foster programs for community health and wellness.

The total is the largest amount in history, and the 24 grants to local community organizations totaling $61,236 was both the largest number and largest dollar amount of grants in history.

Each year, the Rotary Club of Lakewood and Rocky River requests grant applications from non-profit organizations that serve our youth, adults and community within Lakewood and Rocky River. Since its creation in 1952 by then-Club President Carl Dryer, the Foundation has enabled the club to provide over $1.25 million in student scholarships and grants, accomplished due to the generosity of the club’s philanthropic membership.