Ten Orange County High School Students Receive Scholarships
for Excellence in Community Service, Academics and Leadership

ANAHEIM, Calif. April 18, 2013 – The Disneyland Resort celebrated volunteerism this week when it recognized 10 exceptional Orange County students with $75,000 in scholarships for their leadership, academic excellence and contributions to the community. Since the inception of the program in 2005, the Disneyland Resort has granted more than $425,000 in scholarships to graduating Orange County high school seniors. Each student will receive a $7,500 scholarship to use toward pursuing his or her future education goals.

“The Disneyland Resort is proud to recognize these exemplary students for their commitment to excellence and their passion for serving others,” said Michael Colglazier, president of the Disneyland Resort. “We look forward to their continued success and development as our leaders of tomorrow.”

This week, the 10 selected students were surprised at their schools by a “prize patrol” led by Disney Ambassador Megan Navarette. The scholarship recipients were congratulated with a certificate, balloon bouquet, a Mickey Mouse themed award piece, and a Mickey mortar board hat. They will also receive an opportunity to attend a Disney Youth Education Series leadership development course and an invitation to participate in a Disney VoluntEARS project where they will help build a community garden.

Carlos Castellanos, who attends Katella High School, is one of this year’s scholarship recipients. Castenallos volunteers regularly at the Discovery Science Center of Orange County. He also launched a program at his high school to help students be more prepared for college.

“I volunteer because I believe it can have a profound impact in someone’s life and also because I want to change the community I live in for the better,” said Castellanos. “I enjoy it because seeing the smile or satisfaction someone feels because of something I did for them is worth more to me than anything else.”

The recipients of the 2012-2013 Disneyland Resort Scholarship Program are:

Carlos Castellanos – attends Katella High School (Anaheim Union High School District); volunteers at Discovery Science Center of OC

Alicia Frausto – attends Katella High School (Anaheim Union High School District); volunteers at Los Niños de la Calle con Wendy Foundation

Gabrielle Gregory - attends El Toro High School (Saddleback Valley Unified School District); volunteers at Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation

Homin Kwark – attends Northwood High School (Irvine Unified School District); volunteers at Imagiscience

Nathaniel Lam – attends Troy High School (Fullerton Joint Union High School District); volunteers at Youth Leadership America

Michael Salmond – attends Villa Park High School (Orange Unified School District); volunteers at St. Joseph’s Hospital

Robert Santaella – attends San Juan Hills High School (Capistrano Unified School District); volunteers at Anaheim Police Activities League

Katya Sutil – attends Oxford Academy (Anaheim Union High School District); volunteers at Youth Leadership America

Kathy Tran – attends Los Amigos High School (Garden Grove Unified School District); volunteers at the Orange County Human Relations Council

Michelle Tran – attends Valencia High School (Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District); volunteers at CHOC Foundation

More than 200 applications were received and reviewed. The top 20 applicants were interviewed by a distinguished panel of community leaders who selected the 10 college-bound students who would receive the scholarships. The judges included:

Wendy Arciero – Director of Community Relations, Anaheim Ducks

Ruben Franco – CEO, Orange County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

Reginald Gilyard – Dean, The George L. Argyros School of Business and Economics at Chapman University

Rusty Kennedy – Executive Director, OC Human Relations

Cheryl Kisob – Manager – Disney Worldwide Outreach, The Walt Disney Company

Dan McQuaid – President/CEO, One OC

Mark Merhab – Chairman, Angels Baseball Foundation

Tam Nguyen – President, Vietnamese American Chamber of Commerce of Orange County

Rena Puebla – Event Planner, Coast Concierge Service, Inc.

Bill Taormina – Owner, Clean City

Amanda Wong – Co-President and Director, PharmSC Clinic

Julie Wong – Director of Corporate Citizenship, The Walt Disney Company