It is always a pleasure to brag about the Inverness Garden Club Scholarship Fund’s outstanding scholars, their goals and accomplishments. It is thanks to our generous donors we are able to do so. Please meet the following:

Osvaldo Palomares, Matthew Erbst and Andrew Caramagno are June 2016 college graduates; all went to Tomales High. Both Osvaldo and Matthew are completing their first step toward fulfilling their goal of a possible career in medicine. Andrew will complete his studies in food science and technology.

Osvaldo attended two years at Dominican University, where he completed his undergraduate pre-med credits. Wanting to give back to his community, he spent a summer as a health access intern at Next Generation Scholars, an award-winning nonprofit in San Rafael. Its mission is to send underprivileged youth to highly selective colleges and provide them with social services. Osvaldo worked at the clinic, providing health awareness to low-income families. 

The next summer, he taught organic chemistry to low-income students in Marin and was a student leader for the 10,000 degrees program. 

In the fall of 2014, Osvaldo transferred to Johns Hopkins University. There he supplemented his rigorous biology coursework with classes on immigration, race, homelessness and poverty. He also worked in a clinic that provides medical and mental health care for the large population of homeless people in Baltimore. He is taking a gap year upon graduation before applying to medical school, and is presently talking to his advisors to decide what his next move should be. Our committee has followed Osvaldo’s career with admiration over the past four years and is looking forward to hearing about his future plans.

Matthew knew from childhood that he wanted to pursue medicine, and studying at Dominican University exposed him to a wide variety of opportunities. He was one of a few sophomores accepted into the Kaiser Pre-Med internship program, in which he shadowed surgeons in the operating room and doctors specializing in infectious disease, emergency medicine, cancer and the pulmonary system. He saw many styles of approach; however, he also wanted exposure to patients, so he could understand their psychological needs and listen to their worries and fears. 

So the following year he interned at the Novato Community Hospital, where his personal interactions with patients showed him another side of “doctoring.” Matthew is an outstanding student; he is completing his undergraduate degree in science, with a molecular emphasis, and applying to medical schools.

When Andrew applied for a scholarship in 2012, his stated goal was to start his own brewery in Point Reyes Station. Can you imagine what our committee thought? GO FOR IT! 

He is now wrapping up his studies at Oregon State University, where he has taken courses in food science and technology. These landed him the experience of his dreams: a summer internship at the brew house of one of the biggest craft breweries in the country, Lagunitas Brewery. Three summers there afforded him the opportunity to complete tasks, troubleshoot problems and even run the brew house for short periods while the brewers were at meetings. 

Whether he ever opens his own brewery in Point Reyes remains to be seen, but we are certain he will accomplish whatever goal he seeks!

 

Jan Aston is a retired school secretary, mother of four and chair of the Inverness Garden Club Scholarship Fund. Scholarship applications for the 2016-17 school year are due March 1. For information, visit invernesgardens.org.