The Democratic Women’s Club (DWC) of Charlotte County is excited to announce this year’s winners of the Betty Gissendanner and Bob Taylor Memorial Scholarship awards.
The scholarship recipients, MaKenzie Carter (Charlotte HS) and Talon Bottenfield (Lemon Bay HS) will be recognized at the Monday, June 14th DWC Zoom meeting at 4:00 pm. Michael Riley, the School and Community Liaison for the Charlotte County Schools, will be the featured speaker at the education- themed meeting.
To register for the meeting, please click: https://www.mobilize.us/charlottecountydec/event/393012/
MaKenzie Carter is this year’s recipient of the $1000 Betty Gissendanner Memorial Scholarship.
MaKenzie Carter will be a first-generation college student. She has had a distinguished high school career, including academics, athletics, and community service. She has coached a K-8 basketball team and has served as a teaching assistant for AP calculus. One of her teachers describes MaKenzie as “the support system that keeps her peers academically engaged and their emotional wellbeing in a healthy place.” MaKenzie plans to study either behavioral neuroscience or environmental science at Wellesley College in Massachusetts.
Due to generous donations in memory of long-time Democratic Women’s Club supporter, Bob Taylor, who passed away last year, the club was also able to give an additional $1000 scholarship in his memory. The recipient of the DWC’s Bob Taylor Memorial Scholarship is Talon Bottenfield.
Talon Bottenfield overcame reading difficulties in elementary school to become a highly accomplished student. In addition to pursuing a rigorous academic program, Talon also assumed leadership roles in extracurricular activities, contributed 200 hours of community service, and worked part time. In her application essay about why women matter in politics, Talon writes, “…issues that women face can be easily overlooked when politics are dominated by males. It is easy to silence the minority voice, so having women in politics allows women’s issues to be vocalized and addressed.” Talon plans to attend the University of South Florida and study environmental science.
The recipients’ essays can be read at the DWC’s website (dwccharlotte.com) on the Betty G. Scholarship page: https://dwccharlotte.com/betty-g-scholarship/ .
The Betty Gissendanner Memorial Scholarship is awarded annually to Charlotte County young women who are graduating from high school and are registered or pre-registered as Democrats. They are chosen based on the characteristics that illustrate the values that were so important to Betty as a Charlotte County Democrat: Civic Engagement, Equal Opportunity, Women’s Rights and Scholarship.
Betty Gissendanner
Bob & Mary Ellen Taylor
To donate to the fund, please make your check payable to the DWC Gissendanner Scholarship Fund and mail it to the DWC Treasurer, DWC of Charlotte County, 3596 Tamiami Trail, Suite 202, Port Charlotte, FL 33952.
