AAUW Awards Four Scholarships

    The American Association of University Women (Orinda Moraga Lafayette Branch) awarded college scholarships to four graduating high school seniors: Sophia Kofoed (Miramonte), Marielle Riesner-Hansson (Acalanes), Lynn Wolfe (Acalanes) and Kate Ye (Campolindo).
    The selection criteria was academic excellence, community service, and leadership. The recipients were selected based on their applications, written essay, and in-person interviews, according to Marielle Boortz, publicity chair of the local AAUW branch.
Ye and Kofoed each received $2,000 while Riesner-Hansson and Wolfe each received $1,000.
    Riesner-Hansson is lead Teen Wild Guide at the Oakland Zoo and volunteers at the Moraga Veterinary Hospital and Hospice East Bay thrift shops.
    Wolfe is Acalanes Asian American Club President and member of the school’s Equity Board. She also worked with the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation on a documentary about life in WWII internment camps. For the Oakland Asian Cultural Center, she documented artifacts created by Japanese Americans in internment camps.
    Kofoed created the Brain Safety Alliance Committee and has advocated locally, regionally, and nationally for requiring that helmets be worn in women’s lacrosse. She also participated in the Miramonte Peer Mentoring Program, Link Crew, Public Speaking and Debate Club.
    Ye, a violin player, founded the nonprofit Music for the Soul, and with the other students in the group played concerts in senior homes and at fundraising events at Children’s Hospital and California Wildfire Relief. She also founded the Campolindo badminton team and is communications director of Campolindo Peer Tutoring.