Indianapolis/Carmel Scholarship Winners To Receive Portee Leadership Connection Scholarships

The Rotary Club of Carmel will present Portee Leadership Connection Scholarships to the five winners at a special luncheon meeting this Friday, June 2, at the Woodland Country Club in Carmel. In addition to a $1,000.00 monetary award, each winner will be receiving a new laptop computer. The scholarship money can be used for tuition at a college, university, community college, or trade school.

About the winners:

Jaquelin Escobedo is a graduate of Christel House Watanabe Manual High School. She plans to attend IUPUI and study nursing.

Kiah Jackson is a Carmel High School graduate and will attend Indiana University where she will study Epidemiology.

Emma Metzger, also a graduate of Carmel High School, will attend Purdue University. She will study Kinesiology.

Maverick Surber graduated from Christel House Watanabe Manual High School and will attend Bethel College studying American Sign Language.

Florgisel Garcia is a graduate of Providence Cristo Rey High School. She will attend Saint Mary's College and study either Biochemistry, Biology or Criminology.

Selection of the five recipients was made by a review committee at Professional Management Enterprises, a nationally recognized staffing company based in Indianapolis, led by Danny Portee. Scholarships are awarded with equal emphasis on merit and need. Portee was instrumental in getting the funding in place for the scholarships.

Applicants were asked to show why they desire to continue their education, to state the school or trade school where they have been accepted and to provide a brief description of what a $1,000 scholarship and laptop would mean to them. 

Recipients will be accompanied by guests who have been inspirational in their life – such as a parent, grandparent, teacher, coach, religious leader or counselor. Hannah Bates, Monica Frauhiger, Carolyn Shaw, Stephon Tuitt and Drew LeRette are the student awardee table hosts.

The meeting will begin at noon. As part of the meeting, Dr. Rick Markoff, Immediate Past Chairman of Leadership Connection, will introduce the five recipients and invite them to share who their guests are and how they are important in each winner's success stories. They will then be presented with their awards.

Danny Portee will then give a speech. As the Owner and President of Professional Management Enterprises, Portee provides daily corporate leadership for his nationally recognized staffing company. He has an undergraduate degree in Human Resources and an MBA in Organizational Leadership. As an enlisted member

in the Army from 1983-2003, Portee served in the capacity of Senior Telecommunications Manager, Recruiter, Sales Manager and Trainer during his twenty years of military service.

“This program will play a major role in enhancing Leadership Connection by enabling business, community and non-profit executives to have an impact on the next generation of leaders within our community and region,” stated Dr. Markoff.