DEARBORN — The Rotary Club of Dearborn recently announced a total of more than $60,000 in scholarships awarded to 24 graduating high school seniors in Dearborn.

Scholarships are awarded in four, merit-based categories. Each award category is endowed by or honors a past Dearborn Rotarian who recognized the importance of education and sought to pay their own success forward by helping outstanding youth with college expenses. Award amounts range from $2,000 to $8,500 to be used for tuition, books and class fees. In the case of the Rowen Scholarship, the award can be used for expenses related to their vocational pursuit.

 Alex Elamine of Fordson High School received the prestigious Harry A. Sisson Scholarship of $8,500. In addition to an outstanding academic record, Elamine served as captain of Fordson’s swim, tennis and golf teams and volunteered his services to a variety of school and community organizations.

Sarah Bazzi of Dearborn High School and Sarah Gawlik of Divine Child High School are winners of the Hugh M. Archer Scholarship, established in the memory of the longtime Dearborn resident and Rotarian. In addition to founding the Spiratex Company and many professional achievements, Archer served as president of the Rotary Club of Dearborn, Rotary district governor, international director, international general secretary and international president in 1989-90.

The Past Presidents Scholarship, largely funded through the generosity of former Edsel Ford High School principal and Dearborn Rotary Past President Dr. Robert Young, is awarded this year to four Dearborn Public School seniors who will attend a Michigan college or university. Scholarship recipients are Mary Zoulfikar of Fordson High School and the Dearborn Center for Math, Science and Technology (DCMST); Sanaa Awada, Fordson High School; Mallack Jallad, Fordson High School and Collegiate Academy and Spencer Dickhudt, Dearborn High School and DCMST.

The largest scholarship category is the Otto Rowen Vocational Scholarships honoring the memory of the former Rotarian, teacher and principal of Dearborn Public Schools (DPS). He established the trust fund administered by the Dearborn Rotary Foundation to provide scholarships for DSP students who are the best representatives in their vocational areas as recommended by their instructors.

The 17 winners of this year’s Rowen Vocational scholarships are Hussein Alakhrass, information technology, Michael Berry Career Center (MBCC) and Fordson High School; Anthony AlAziz, computer programming, MBCC and Dearborn High School; Jeffrey Cottingham, Jr., allied health occupations, MBCC and Edsel Ford High School; Rawan Eid, nursing, Henry Ford Early College—Health Sciences; Zahraa Elghoul, computer programming, MBCC and Fordson High School; Ali Elsayed and  Linnea Harazem, criminal justice and law careers, MBCC and Fordson High School; Maryam Jaratli, computer programming, MBCC and Dearborn High School; Mohamed Kayed, allied health occupations, MBCC and Fordson High School; Anthony Marano, wood technology, Edsel Ford High School; Melania Medina, allied health occupations, MBCC and Dearborn High School; Alexa Monroy, marketing, MBCC and Fordson High School; Ali Mourad, culinary arts, MBCC and Dearborn High School; Abigail Murray, accounting, Dearborn Collegiate Academy and Dearborn High School; Manal Nasser, allied health occupations, MBCC and Fordson High School; Fatmah Saleh, accounting, MBCC and Fordson High School; and Jason Wood, automotive/welding technology, Edsel Ford High School.

Since 1999, the Dearborn Rotary Foundation has awarded a total of more than $535,000 in scholarships in the different categories.

Information about each of the Dearborn Rotary scholarships is available on the club’s website, www.DearbornRotary.org. Completed applications are due in mid-January of each year with committee selections finalized in March. Founded in 1923, the Rotary Club of Dearborn is the city’s oldest service organization and is a proud member of Rotary International, bringing 1.2 million members in more than 34,000 individual clubs together to live the motto of “Service Above Self.”