Scholarships awarded to 2 high school graduates
DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA, August 5, 2015 – The LPGA Foundation announced today the 2 high-school graduates selected to receive this year’s Dinah Shore and Phyllis G. Meekins Scholarships. Each candidate has demonstrated outstanding academic excellence, leadership skills and active involvement and service to her community while also fulfilling specific requirements for each scholarship award.
Dinah Shore Scholarship
Paulina Helena Castro Nava, a graduate of Oxnard High School in Oxnard, California, is this year’s Dinah Shore Scholarship recipient. The $5,000 scholarship was established in 1994 to honor the late Dinah Shore, a Hollywood legend and honorary member of the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame. The annual Dinah Shore Scholarship is awarded to a female high school senior who will attend college, but not play collegiate golf.
Nava, who graduated with awards including President’s Scholar Athlete, captain and MVP of the girls’ golf team, National Hispanic Youth Research & Leadership Program’s most engaging writer was also the president of the National Honors Society, and Red Cross club. One of her biggest accomplishments was receiving 1st place for MESA Prosthetic Arm Challenge.
Nava plans to attend Stanford University in California to study Human Biology with a minor women’s studies. She plans to become a doctor and create an organization aimed at encouraging young women into the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields.
Phyllis G. Meekins Scholarship
Established in 2006, the Phyllis G. Meekins Scholarship awards $1,250 to a female high school senior from a minority background, who will be pursuing a full-time course of study and playing collegiate golf at an accredited college or university in the United States. Micaa’ A. Thomas, whose accomplishments far exceeded the requirements of this scholarship, is this year’s recipient.
Thomas is a 2015 graduate of Archbishop Spalding High School in Maryland. She has achieved many accomplishments such as being inducted into the African-American High School and Collegiate Hall of Fame as the 2015 “Golfer of the Year,” the Girls Team Champion of the IAAC in Maryland, and Maryland Amateur Athletic Union “Outstanding Golf Athlete of the Year.” She is currently a member of the LPGA-USGA Girls Golf Program in Maryland. Outside of golf, Thomas was the National Art Society vice president and recipient of the U.S. President’s Academic Achievement Award. She is also the first “Gold Key” winner of the Scholastic Art and Writing in her high school.
Thomas will be attending Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta, Georgia, where she plans to master 3D Animation, motion graphics, and visual effects.
The namesake of the scholarship, the late Phyllis G. Meekins, became a member of the LPGA Teaching and Club Professionals in 1981, earning Life Member status in 2001. Known for her dedication to junior golf, Meekins established the Phyllis G. Meekins (PGM) Golf Clinic, Inc. at Mount Airy’s Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1973. Under Meekins’ guidance, thousands of students have participated in the PGM Golf Clinics, and through developing life skills such as perseverance, goal setting, self-discipline and leadership, many have also gone on to achieve significant success, both in the classroom, as well as in their careers.
Meekins was inducted into the National African American Golfers Hall of Fame in 1984 and was nominated for the 1993 LPGA Teacher of the Year award. She was recognized by the National Golf Foundation (NGF) with the NGF Outstanding Service Award.
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