Features

Athena Luncheon

Olivia Buford and Molly Spence

November 1, 2023

Athena Club Luncheon members and Mr. Magolis

[above] Rebekah Gutierrez with her parents and her scholarship money

Wednesday, October 25th, Marion Center Athena Club members attended a luncheon at the Indiana Country Club. During this event, Rebekah Gutierrez, of Marion Center received the Spadafora Family Athena scholarship.

The Athena Club strives to empower young women leaders and show them how they can succeed in life. Athena helps young women, even outside of Marion Center and Indiana, learn entrepreneurship and leadership skills to become successful in the advancing world. It helps young women’s voices be heard and “create a balance in voices of leadership.”

The scholarship has been awarded to many members including its most recent recipient, Rebekah Gutierrez since 1987. The scholarship awarded to Rebekah Gutierrez, and many others, is a $5,000 competitive scholarship in which the Spadafora Family donates to any high schooler of an Indiana County Athena club, who writes a written essay, receives recommendations for the scholarship, and is reviewed and accepted by a scholarship committee. The scholarship recognizes a showing of a leadership model. Some qualities it recognizes also are constant learning, acting courageously, giving back, and other qualities of leadership roles.

During this luncheon, Athena Club participants enjoyed delicious food from the Indiana County Country Club, made memories, and learned a lot during the luncheon meeting. “Going to the Athena Club luncheon, opened my eyes a little bit. The speeches opened my eyes to what I can succeed in doing and what I can do with my life to make a difference. It has motivated me to be the best version of myself I possibly can be. I made a ton of lifelong memories and I am so grateful for the lifelong positive impact it’s made on my life.” Molly Spence had said in an interview. Many had similar experiences to her. Above all, all of the young women who participated had a blast made memories, and learned so much during this trip.

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About the Contributors

Olivia Buford, Writer

Hi, my name is Olivia Buford, I haven't really been involved in clubs before, but I have done swimming. I want to be a part of the newspaper staff because I enjoy writing. I hope to have something I write to be published.

Molly Spence, Co-Editor-In-Chief

"Remember there is good in this world, and bad, and ugly." -Unknown Hello, welcome to The Stinger! My name is Molly Spence, I am a class of 2026 Junior and the Co-Editor-In-Chief for The Stinger Newspaper. I am involved in the Newspaper, Marion Center Mean Green Marching Machine as one of the Section Leaders for the Color Guard, a representative of Marion Center High School for United Way, ATHENA Club as the head of public relations, Art Club, and library assistant. This is my third year in Newspaper. I've been assistant editor for two years, and this is my first year as Co-Editor-In-Chief. My future goals include attending Lycoming College to major in Psychology to accomplish my career goal of being a clinical psychologist, and continuing my education (master’s and doctoral degrees) at another college. Apart from my aspiring career and education dreams, something people may not know about me is I twirl batons (1, 2 and 3 batons). I was a competitive twirler, as for right now I'm doing my own training, and improving my skills and learning new tricks. I also love ducks. I have two ducks who hate my batons when I’m twirling but love to go up to them and peck them when I’m not twirling. I don’t allow them anywhere near the fire baton, of course. My ducks and twirling are giant parts of my life, as well as psychology class here in the high school and my own research and education. By being a part of The Stinger, I want to make everyone's voice heard and leave no one behind, because after all, we, Marion Center High School students, are all in this together.