College will be a little bit easier on the pockets for three local high school graduates.
Dana Zack, Anoosha Murella and Maggie Wong each received a $1,000 scholarship from the Ironwood Friends of the Phoenix Public Library book scholarship which will be made payable to the bookstore of their future colleges.
Zack is attending the University of Arizona Honors College in the Fall, Murella is signed up for Arizona State University and Wong will attend Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
The annual scholarship was open to high school seniors who volunteered at the Ironwood library or were members of the Ironwood Library Teen Council and were accepted to an accredited college or university. Entrants completed an application, including an essay.
This was the fifth year that the scholarships have been awarded by collection efforts of the Friends of Ironwood Library.
Ironwood Library accepts 60 volunteers during the summer months and up to 45 at a time throughout the rest of the year. Volunteers become eligible for the grant after they have volunteered a full year prior to applying.
Friends of Ironwood Library, a volunteer organization now disbanded, started the grant program four years ago using money generated from selling used books. A former member of the organization said the library started to rely more heavily on volunteers due to budget cuts.
“They are very important and critical to the success of Ironwood Library,” Pam Nunes, former treasurer for the group, said. “This is our way of thanking them for all the hard work they have done.”
• Contact writer: (480) 898-4903 or troemhild@ahwatukee.com
