Willits High School, taken by Adrian Fernandez Baumann
FILE – Willits High School in Willits, Calif. in an undated photo. (Adrian Fernandez Baumann/Bay City News)

MENDOCINO Co., 7/9/20 — A scholarship fund drive started a month ago for Willits High graduating students of color has wrapped after raising $12,000. Holli and Noel Woodhouse of Willits started the GoFundMe in June with a $2000 goal, hoping to give two scholarships of $1000 each to graduating seniors of Willits High. To raise awareness, Noel Woodhouse biked from Willits High (where he attended high school) to his alma mater, UC Davis. A month later, they are offering 12 scholarships of $1000 to recent graduates of Willits High. 

Here is an update from Holli and Noel Woodhouse with a list of the recipients: 

Thanks to the incredible support from and for our community, the WHS Class of 2020 POC Scholarship fundraiser was far more successful than we could’ve imagined. We ended up raising our goal to six times the original amount and were able to offer twelve $1000 scholarships to recent graduates. Dozens of deserving students were nominated by classmates, teachers, and community members, making the selection process very difficult. The following were chosen to receive this year’s scholarships:

Pablo Avalos

Angel Gandarilla

Odalys Lara Lopez

Eddie Llamas Calderon

Belen Mendoza

Britney Patel

Nayeli Rodriguez

Lety Sanchez

Luis Sanchez Ortega

Brandon Schmidt

Mariano Tomas Mendoza

Tatiyana Viale

Congratulations to these recipients and the entire class of 2020 and thank you to the donors who made this all possible!

If you’d like to view the original fundraiser information, please visit: www.gofundme.com/f/WHS-POC-Scholarship

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