OLYMPIA—The Association of Washington Cities Center for Quality Communities (CQC) has announced eight recipients of its 2023 scholarships. The students are from the cities of Bremerton, Bainbridge Island, Issaquah, Lakewood, Poulsbo, SeaTac, and Tukwila, and the Town of Wilbur.

The eight outstanding Washington high school seniors will each receive a $2,500 CQC scholarship to use for college or trade school this fall and are invited to speak at the AWC Annual Conference in Spokane on June 22, 2023. City officials and staff from each of their communities nominated the students for a scholarship based on their leadership skills and dedication to civic service.

“We are so pleased to help these impressive scholarship recipients achieve their dreams,” said AWC CEO Deanna Dawson. “I often hear from city officials that the pipeline of young people who are choosing a career in civic service is dwindling. We see this scholarship as an opportunity to both help the students complete their education and to build up the future leaders of our communities.”

Since 2012, the CQC scholarship program has awarded 78 scholarships totaling more than $100,000 in student educational funding. Prior recipients have gone on to launch impressive careers in public service, elected office, government, law, finance, STEM, medicine, communications, teaching, public safety, IT, and much more.

About the scholarship recipients

Gigi Hendrickson – City of Bainbridge Island
Gigi has a passion for public health and believes in the power of teaching, training, and empowering people to reach ambitious goals. She has been honored with the Dr. Frank Kitamoto Legacy Award for social justice work. Gigi serves as vice president of the Future Health Professionals club and has done pre-med shadowing in the Dominican Republic. Closer to home, Gigi volunteers with the local food bank and cooks for a community meal kitchen. Gigi plans to work as a doctor for a global health organization and advocate to expand health care access to all people.

Claire Warthen – City of Bremerton
A memorable field trip to a cultural center in grade school inspired Claire to learn how governing can help those in need. She has served as class president, Model UN secretary general, a Washington State Senate page, and as a member of her state senator’s youth council. Claire has played soccer and golf throughout high school, volunteers as an assistant coach for Kitsap Alliance Soccer Club, and is a Spanish translator for the Bremerton School District. Her honors include the Bausch & Lomb Honorary Science Award and Rotary Youth Leadership Award. Claire plans to pursue a career in politics or public policy to bring positive change to her hometown of Bremerton.

Rishi Hazra – City of Issaquah
Using persistence and dedication, Rishi embraced leadership opportunities in his school and city to create lasting change through anti-hunger and environmental initiatives. Rishi is ASB president at Skyline High School and one of two Washington state delegates for the U.S. Senate Youth Program. He’s the founder of the Skyline Philosophy Club and an award-winning chess player. Rishi is a lead research intern at Northwest Nuclear Laboratories and a research associate at X-Ray Crystallography Labs at Washington State University. He plans to pursue a PhD in Chemistry and build a career helping bridge the gap between the scientific community and the public.

Brandon Elliott – City of Lakewood
Brandon has dreams of serving his community at the highest level by learning to become a competent and effective leader. He serves as student body president, member of the Association of Washington Student Leaders, co-chair of the Lakewood Youth Council, and member of the Lakewood Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. Brandon has won multiple academic awards in math and English, as well as the Harrison Prep International Baccalaureate Caring Award and Open-Minded Award. He has served as a climate justice ambassador and volunteers at the Tacoma Buddhist Center. Brandon plans to pursue a career in government and politics, eventually running for legislative office, governor, and even president one day.

Benen Lawler – City of Poulsbo
As a result of the tragic loss of his mother, Benen moved to the U.S. during the pandemic and ultimately became 2023 class valedictorian at North Kitsap High School with a 4.0 GPA. Benen serves as ASB class president, honor society member, and received the gold medal in French biliteracy through the Global Seal of Biliteracy. He is captain of both the varsity track and football teams and serves as head coach for the middle school flag football team. Benen likes learning about biology and the human body and is interested in pursuing a career in medicine or athletic training.

Harmony Grace – City of SeaTac
Harmony is excited to pursue a career as a user experience (UX) designer focused on the experience of people of color. She is recipient of the Washington STEM Rising Star award and Golden Scholar award. Harmony serves as president of the Tyee chapter of the Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) and member of the Superintendent’s Student Leadership Team for the Highline School District and the SeaTac Community Services Advisory Committee. In addition to being varsity cheerleading captain at Tyee High School, Harmony volunteers with several organizations through her church and mentors incoming freshmen at her school.

Alex Vicuna – City of Tukwila
Alex has a passion for ending family homelessness and building up his community. Alex is ASB president at Foster High School, captain of the cross-country team, and participates on the varsity track and field and swim teams. He has won many awards for his community leadership, including the Joe Brotherton Interdisciplinary Award from Teens in Public Service for being the intern with the strongest interest in community and passion for learning. Alex is also involved with the UW Young Executives of Color, UW Changemakers in Computing, and the King County Climate Equity Community Taskforce. Alex plans to attend the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington.

Faith Bowden – Town of Wilbur
Living up to her name, Faith never gave up on herself and overcame many high school hardships. She serves as ASB vice president at Wilbur High School, has been on the Superintendent's Honor Roll, and received the Presidential Award for the past three years. In addition to maintaining high grades, Faith has promoted local blood drives alongside Wilbur’s mayor and volunteered at the local police department’s National Night Out events. She also maintains frequent volunteer hours at local hospitals, nursing homes, and a variety of other community events. Faith plans to pursue a career in civil or structural engineering.

About CQC

The Center for Quality Communities is a 501(c)(3) partner of the Association of Washington Cities (AWC). The scholarship program promotes civic engagement through municipal leadership development. CQC’s goal is to help raise the visibility of the important role cities and towns play in Washington by cultivating our future local leaders.

The scholarship fund is supported solely by donations from generous individuals, foundations, and organizations wishing to invest in the future of our communities.

The scholarship program cycle opens each fall for city officials from all 281 cities and towns to nominate high school seniors who are active in leadership in their city government, community, or school and plan to pursue post-secondary education. Scholarship nominations are due each January, with recipients announced in the spring. Scholarship recipients also receive a travel stipend to attend AWC’s Annual Conference in June.

Visit the CQC website to find more information.