Garden club awards 2 scholarships
Two Fortuna Union High School students have each received a $1,000 scholarship from the Fortuna Garden Club. Megan Dixon and Emma Houseworth were selected to receive the scholarships, given annually by the club.
“We received five applications, all extremely wellqualified students with excellent participation in agricultural activities,” said Fortuna Garden Club member Debra Strahan. “It wasn’t an easy decision, and we wish we could have awarded them all. We did select the two most qualified applicants that closely matched our criteria, (and) we are happy to be able to award these thousand-dollar scholarships to the students to help with their college expenses.”
Scholarship recipient Megan Dixon is currently serving as District 1 Dairy Princess. She has been active in student government at Fortuna Union High School, serving as President of her freshman, sophomore and now senior class, and vice president of her Junior class. She participates in football and basketball cheerleading and is a four-year member of the Fortuna FFA chapter and this year’s club president.
Dixon plans to attend Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in the fall and major in ag business or ag communications. Her career goal is to work in public relations for an agriculture-related business.
“I want to combine my passion for the agricultural industry with my interest in business,” Dixon said.
Scholarship recipient Emma Houseworth is the granddaughter of Fortuna Garden Club member Sonya Houseworth and is interested in a possible future in floral design.
“It interests me because I can grow and care for flowers myself and create special arrangements for people, which in turn, brings happiness to people,” Houseworth said.
Houseworth has created floral arrangements for local gatherings including weddings, funerals, and events held at the River Lodge. She also helped design the corsages for the high school prom.
After the death of her father Eddie Houseworth in February 2020, Emma helped her mother with a small landscaping project at home including planting flowers and a lemon tree.
Currently, she has a 3.64 GPA and plans to attend either Santa Barbara City College or College of the Redwoods to pursue a degree in business and hopes to start her own business one day.