History of the VHSAA Scholarship Program

The formal program began in the late 1950s and has evolved over time. The first recipient was Margaret (Wells) Wickizer, who attended UCLA and after taking a year off to be married, graduated in 1963.

In 1963 a scholarship was awarded to senior Jeanne Fordham, who attended UC-Berkeley. In 1965 the Association was able to award two private pilot flight course scholarships, courtesy of Betty Miller, W’45, who with her husband Chuck, owned Santa Monica Flyers.

Generally, in the 1960s scholarships of $100 per year for four years were awarded. Some of the recipients were Gary Latshaw, S’62 (UC-Berkeley); Charles Gay, S’64 (Dartmouth); and Kathie Alba S’65 (Oregon State).

In the 1970s the program initiated an endowment effort, where the income earned by the endowment would go to scholarships. The endowment principal would not be used and it would provide a perpetual source of scholarship money. First, the Century Club was started with qualifying donations of $100 going into the endowment. This was followed, several years later, with the Mega Club, at the $1,000 level. Both the Century and Mega clubs were ended in 2008.

By 1991, due to the great success of the programs started two decades earlier, the endowment money had grown and it became clear that professional management was needed. In early 1992 the endowment was placed with California Community Foundation, as the Venice High School Alumni Scholarship Fund.

For information about the California Community Foundation see its 2008 annual report. The listing of VHS Alumni Scholarship Fund can be found by selecting page 42.

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