The 2024 recipients of the Rachel Anne Gray Memorial Scholarship were honored at a recent Fair Oaks Recreation and Park District Board of Directors meeting. In the front row, from left, are scholarship winners Alexis Housh, Gredtel Hess, Adiya Clurman and Ava Reckers. In the back row, from left, are Director John O’Farrell, Vice-Chair Delinda Tamagni, Chair Ralph Carhart and Director Raymond James Irwin. Photo courtesy of Fair Oaks Recreation and Park District

FAIR OAKS, CA (MPG) - The Rachel Anne Gray Memorial Scholarship was established in 2014 by the Fair Oaks Recreation and Park District (FORPD), in remembrance of a beloved Fair Oaks resident, Rachel Anne Gray, who died in 2012 at the age of 21. Gray was a Fair Oaks Youth Advisory Board (FOYAB) member from 2006 to 2008, and scholarships are annually awarded to local youth in her honor.

Fair Oaks Recreation and Park District Recreation Supervisor Mary Stoakley said Gray was a valued member of the Fair Oaks community who “made a huge impact on young leaders, the community, and the Fair Oaks Recreation and Park District staff.”

“It’s such an honor to get to meet these students every single year,” Stoakley said. “It’s amazing to see students who are committed to their communities, positively influencing others in their surrounding areas—it’s just really inspiring. Each year, we’re blown away by the incredible heart, their work ethic and the incredible feats these students have accomplished just in the short time they’ve been around.”

At a recent Fair Oaks Recreation and Park District meeting, Stoakley presented the 2024 scholarship recipients, a group of impressive young women involved in a variety of service clubs, student organizations, and extracurricular and volunteer activities.

Winners at the $500 award level were Bella Vista seniors Gredtel Hess and Alexis Housh and Mira Loma senior Nishka Baliga. Bella Vista senior Adiya Clurman won the $1,000 award.

The $1,500 award went to Bella Vista senior Ava Reckers, who plans to pursue a nursing degree after graduation.

Reckers has lived in Fair Oaks her whole life and always enjoyed attending community events such as the Chicken Festival and Trick-or-Treating in the Village. She is grateful to now help plan these beloved community events as part of Fair Oaks Youth Advisory Board, creating happy memories for a new generation of Fair Oaks children.

Fair Oaks Recreation and Park District Chair Ralph Carhart said he was happy that these “incredible young people” will be here “to support the community in the future. … Rachel Anne lives on in these great students here. It’s really wonderful.”