Blanche Ely Alumni Class of 1966 Challenges Other Alumni to Give Back

By China Boynton

The Blanche Ely high school alumni class of 1966 recently continued their efforts to provide financial assistance to students from their alma mater. Ta’Niya Saunders and Ashleigh Battle were the two Ely graduates that received $1000 from the alumni class. The class has been giving away financial assistance for local students for the past two years.

The scholarship applicants had to fill out an application and write an essay about their plans for continuing their education.

“We had a number of excellent candidates and it was a tough decision, but the two that were chosen were very worthy and had positive outlooks as it relates to their higher education,” said 1966 BEHS Alumni Class President Henry Robinson.

The final decision was made based on the amount of community service each applicant completed.

“The ones that impressed us the most were Ta’Niya who wanted to be a hospice nurse and Ashleigh who wants to go into business, which is my field,” Robinson said.

The ceremony was held at Blanche Ely House Museum on June 9. The Kiwanis Club of Pompano Beach had members come and give support by handing out care packages of towels, and hygiene products, along with school supplies to each scholarship recipient.

“Marie Johnson, Marie Bowers, and I are part of the Kiwanis Club and we gathered our resources to give the scholarship winners some help with personal items they may need while away at school,” Chairman and Treasurer Joan Gibbons-Smith said.

Both students have lofty goals for their future Ta’Niya Saunders will be studying nursing at Bethune Cookman College in Daytona Beach and Ashleigh Battle looks forward to studying business at Eastern Florida State College in Cocoa Beach.

The mother of scholarship recipient Ta’Niya Saunders, Deborah Jackson, was so impressed by the efforts of the BEHS 1966 alumni class that she has decided to try to have her Blanche Ely 1988 alumni class help future graduates as well.

“I will be attending the ‘66 alumni meeting later in June so I can see how they go about bringing the scholarships into fruition because I’m not a teacher so this is a way I can give back to students from the school that helped my children and I become successful,” Jackson said.

The 1966 Blanche Ely alumni class say that they’re challenging other alumni classes to give away scholarships to local students as well.

“We are challenging other Blanche Ely alumni to come together and create opportunities for the young individuals in the community,” said Gibbons-Smith.

Gibbons-Smith is hoping to provide more resources for aspiring young adults from Pompano Beach.

For more information on how you can sign up to be a 2024 scholarship recipient contact Buffie Phillips at Buffie.PhillipsLawrence@browardschools.com