The prestigious John McCollum Memorial Scholarship, a $1000 award, was given to a Lassen College Graduate, Katelyn Johnston, at commencement ceremonies held Friday, May 25th, at Lassen Community College.
The scholarship was established by the McCollum family in memory of their son John who died while serving in the armed forces during World War II. The elder McCollum served as the Superintendent of the combination Lassen High School and Lassen Community College District during the late 1930’s and into the early 1940’s.
This year’s recipient earned a 3.604 GPA in her time at Lassen and served as the Associated Student Body President, as well as volunteering as a student ambassador and participating in state community college governance activities. She was also a member of the academic honor society Phi Theta Kappa.
While completing high school in three years at Diamond Mountain Charter School Katelyn was first in her class, won best editorial in state in 2010, and participated in the at-sea youth leadership course where she excelled as the commander of the vessel after only one day at sea.
Her current plans are to attend UCLA and major in English with the ultimate goal of earning a PhD in education. Katelyn received the esteemed UCLA regents’ scholarship. Only the top 1.5 percent of UCLA applicants are even allowed to compete for this scholarship and only 100 scholarships are given.
When speaking about her career Katelyn says, “If I could choose any career, I would pick Super Hero. Unfortunately, there isn’t a major for that so my academic goals are to obtain a Masters in English followed by a PhD in education. Teachers, after all, are real-life heroes.”
