2016 Tigard Shining Stars Scholarship Recipients Named

The Tigard Chamber of Commerce (TCC) is pleased to announce the 2016 recipients of the Tigard Shining Stars Scholarship Award.  Each recipient will receive a $1,000 scholarship made possible by a generous donation from Pride Disposal and roughly 80 businesses who are members of the Tigard Chamber of Commerce.  Applicants were judged based on career plans, extracurricular and/or work activities, scholastic achievement and letters of recommendation.  Please join us in congratulating the following students for earning this highly competitive scholarship:Alexandra Adriano, Tualatin High School
Alex Lesinski, Tigard High School
Zachary McFall, Tigard High School
Alexandra Adriano is a senior at Tualatin High School and is actively engaged in her community.  Her extracurricular activities include Future Business Leaders of America (Community Service Officer), Tualatin High newspaper Editor in Chief, School Café product line manager, Latin Ballroom, National Honor Society, Speech and Debate and Rotary.  As a volunteer, Alexandra is the Co-Founder/Program Director of Everybody Dance Now!, a Portland non-profit offering free dance classes to underserved Portland Metro youth including Tigard.  Additionally she is on the Advisory Board for Abby’s Closet, is a ballroom dance instructor and has volunteered with SOLVE. 
In addition to all these activities, during her high school career Alexandra has maintained a 4.0 GPA.   Her experiences as a product line manager at the School Café’, starting and then running a local non-profit and begin actively involved in FBLA have all fueled her passion and interest in business.  Alexandra plans to pursue a BS in Business and Administration Management and is considering several different universities.  Alexandra would like to continue work with organizations whose primary goals are to improve our communities or the world.  She is trilingual with a deep interest in other cultures, so it is not a surprise that her college plans include international business and a likely career path that includes international business or nonprofit work.
Alex Lesinski is a senior at Tigard High School and is a member of National Honor Society and Spanish National Honor Society, has participated in Future Business Leaders of America, is a Varsity football athlete, as well as a participating in recreational track and basketball.  This all while working for the last 2 ½  years at Rocket Fizz a local candy shop.  The owner of Rocket Fizz describes Alex as one of the hardest workers he has ever seen, and his references describe him as an individual who leads by example with a strong work ethic, mature and well respected by his peers.  Alex also keeps the books for his mom who owns a local business.
While doing all of this Alex has maintained a 3.98/4.09 cumulative/weighted GPA and has taken several IB and honors level classes.  His interest in pursuing his business degree with an accounting focus at the University of Oregon stems from his exposure to accounting in his mother’s business and his stepdad’s background in business as well.  At this point he is undecided if he will pursue being a CPA or just working in accounting department in a business.
Zachary McFall is a senior at Tigard High as well, his extracurricular activities include varsity Lacrosse, varsity Cross County and Snowboard team and he is an Outdoor Club member.  In addition to his sports and outdoors activities during his high school tenure, Zachary has been a volunteer Youth Lacrosse Coach, volunteered at Camp Howard, was a LINK Crew Leader, a Screen tech for Infinity Impressions, an event assistant for the Tigard High Athletic Department for 3 years and a cook at Godfather’s Pizza last winter.  This is even more astounding given the fact that he battled cancer for 18 months during his sophomore and junior year.
While handling all of these activities and adversity in his high school career, Zach has maintained a weighted GPA of 3.78, and has taken 8+ IB level courses.  He plans to pursue his Bachelor’s Degree in International Business at the University of Oregon this fall.  His interest in this field stems from his fathers’ international business work/travels while in the beverage industry and the international aspects of a small business that his parents started in 2009.
Congratulations again to all three of our recipients.  These scholarships will be formally presented with other Tigard volunteer and business awards at Tigard’s 2016 Shining Stars Community Awards Celebration, sponsored by Title Sponsors Center Street Gold & Silver and HomeStreet Bank (King City/Tigard Branch).  The event will be held on Friday, April 29th from 5:30-9 p.m. at Embassy Suites – Washington Square, our event location host.  With a theme of “Diamonds are Forever”, this elegant themed dinner event includes dinner, silent auction, dessert dash, awards, and more. Tickets are $45/person.  Dress your best and join us to celebrate Tigard!
For further details about Shining Stars, please contact the Tigard Chamber of Commerce at 503-639-1656 or at events@tigardchamber.org, or go to our webpage at www.tigardchamber.org.