Redmond High School (RHS) graduates Vika Boentaram and Ashley Walls are two of 50 students who have been awarded with $2,500 scholarships each from the BECU Foundation.

For more than 18 years, the foundation has awarded these scholarships to outstanding high school and undergraduate college students.

“The BECU Foundation was able to expand the scholarship program by giving away five more scholarships than previous years,” said Debbie Wege, executive director of the BECU Foundation. “We take pride in the fact that our program continues to grow each year and that these student-members are putting the credit union philosophy of ‘people helping people’ to work in their communities.”

Boentaram (left, center) started a UNICEF Club at RHS, which was inspired by her Indonesian background. The club has raised money to build a water system in Africa, helped an underprivileged Syrian child and initiated local charity events for children locally. Boentaram’s close work with UNICEF and passion for civic engagement is setting the path toward a college education in business entrepreneurship and sociology, with the goal of starting a nonprofit organization to specifically help children in Southeast Asia.

Walls is a volunteer at local softball clinics, which was inspired by the help she received from mentors while she was a player.

“Over the years, we’ve given more than $1.5 million dollars in scholarships to 715 students and every year I look forward to giving out the next set of awards,” said Wege.

The recipients participated in all types of service projects, from creating a nonprofit business, Paws for a Cause, to creating an annual Halloween food drive and being a Big Buddy for the Maple Hills Swim Team. The BECU Foundation received about 500 applications and selected 50 recipients based on grades, amount of time dedicated to volunteering and an essay about their community involvement project.