The Surf City Kiwanis Club of Santa Cruz offers four first-year college scholarships each year, each in the amount of $1,000, and one trade school scholarship in the amount of $500.  Applications are accepted from seniors graduating this spring (through the college counselors) from our four area high schools: Harbor, Santa Cruz, Soquel, and Pacific Collegiate School. Each scholarship is targeted for a student planning to study a specific major or trade:

• The Melissa Smith Memorial Scholarship:  to provide assistance for a student who desires to follow the field of DANCE, DRAMA or the ARTS.
• The Herb Reid Memorial Scholarship:  to provide assistance for a student who will pursue a career in MEDIA/COMMUNICATION.
• The Mas Sugimoto Memorial Scholarship:  to provide assistance to a student who will pursue a career in ENGINEERING.
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• The Jack Weaver Memorial Trade School Scholarships (2 ea.):  to provide assistance for a student who wishes to pursue a vocational career in one of the TRADES.

All scholarship applications must be submitted through the student's high school counselor’s office, who then select no more than ONE student application submittal from their school for each of the five scholarships.  Final selection is then made by our Scholarship Committee of the Surf City-Santa Cruz Kiwanis Foundation, subject to the final approval of the Foundation's Board of Directors.  Each year we typically accept applications until mid-April, so our scholarships can then be awarded in early May and presentations can be made at each school's annual Senior Grad night event.Each application includes the student's essay, faculty & volunteer program letters of recommendation, and the student's official transcript, with the Committee's consideration based on the following criteria:

• Academic achievement
• Community involvement
• Demonstrated leadership

                

Youth Programs

Kiwanis International is a "family" of organizations that focuses on teaching young children about the responsibilities of good citizenship, community service and building future leaders.

The Surf City Santa Cruz Kiwanis sponsors four youth clubs:

• UC Santa Cruz Circle K Club
• Pacific Collegiate School Key Club
• Scouts Troop 633 and Girl Scout Troop 10201

Our sponsored youth groups independently initiate service projects and community service activities throughout the school year. Our club works through an adviser in each youth organization to coordinate our participation with their activities or to have them work with us on major service programs and fund raisers.

We are so proud of our youth groups and their accomplishments which make our community a much better place to live. The activities listed below are a small portion of the many projects they are involved in: 

• Local beach cleanups
• Homeless Garden work
• Creating Greeting Cards for our local Senior Care Facility residents
• Salvation Army Thanksgiving dinners
• Human Race Fundraiser
• Our Annual Crab & Pasta Dinner Fundraiser
• Our Annual Children's Christmas Party