DePue Alumni Foundation presents scholarship in founder’s memory

DEPUE — The DePue Alumni Foundation has awarded The Garcia Family Memorial Scholarship in honor of founder and former teacher Keith Garcia.

Ana Hernandez was selected as the recipient of the scholarship which was presented at graduation by Gavin Garcia, Keith’s son and Santina Garcia, Keith’s wife.

“With this scholarship, we hope that it would encourage the students of DePue Unit Schools to pursue or further their studies in the fields of science, as we realize the many opportunities that can come from studying science,” Gavin Garcia said.

“For me personally, this scholarship was a way to carry on my father’s beliefs of giving back to the community and continue teaching the students the importance of science, and education in general,” Garcia said.

Ana Hernandez has chosen to attend college at University of Illinois at Chicago.

“The Garcia family came together and wanted to honor Keith in the same way he worked to help the kids with scholarships through the foundation each year,” Anna McKee, founding member of the Alumni Foundation, said. “Like many other organizations, the DePue Alumni Foundation didn’t do any fundraising during 2020, so we were grateful the Garcia family approached us with this opportunity.

“Since then we have updated our website https://depuealumni.org/ with some new alumni images and new information for those interested, “ McKee said. “We now accept donations through the site and have had some of our volunteers update social media on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. We are hoping that now everything is opening back up, we will have an opportunity to interact with our volunteers and the community more in the coming months.”