A scholarship for every Vashon graduate

Published 12:34 pm Tuesday, February 17, 2026

Every year, Vashon Community Scholarships receives dozens of applications from graduating seniors hoping to be paired with a scholarship donated by businesses and community members. Their mission: to provide a scholarship to every graduate.

This year, 89 Vashon High School seniors submitted a scholarship notebook to the organization, and every single one of them will receive money.

Treasurer Ellen Call first learned about Vashon Community Scholarships after moving to the island in 1994, and recalls being struck by the revolutionary idea that every student who applied would be recognized and supported by their community.

“I’d never heard anything like it in my life,” Call said. “It was an inspirational thought, and it just stuck with me, and I thought someday, I want to work in that organization.”

On March 7, the organization will hold its first annual “One Big Day” fundraising event, with half a dozen private events raising money for the organization. Some businesses on Vashon will also display a QR code that day that islanders can scan to donate.

Booster club member Kimi Healey says the organization hopes to make “One Big Day” an annual event that grows in size, including events open to the public.

Scholarships are funded through private donors, as well as community members and businesses. Every year, after applications are submitted in January, donors and volunteers work to match students to the dozens of scholarships available. Graduates are celebrated and awarded their scholarships at an annual reception at the end of the school year.

“It’s just kind of like a puzzle gets put together, donors read the notebooks and make decisions about who they feel best fits their scholarships,” Co-President Anna Sander said.

All proceeds donated during the “One Big Day” event will go towards the organization’s general fund, which helps to meet the organization’s goal of awarding every student a minimum of $1,500 in scholarship money.

Although sponsored scholarships donated by islanders, groups, organizations, and memorials make up the majority, Booster Club member Kimi Healey says it wouldn’t be possible to award a scholarship to every graduate who applies without the General Fund. Last year, Healey says 47 scholarships totaling $45,700 were awarded through the organization’s general fund.

Vashon Community Scholarships has deep roots on the island, with many islanders knowing someone who completed a scholarship notebook or completed one themselves when they graduated high school, including Sander.

“For me, every little bit made a huge difference … heading off to college with student loans and all those big financial burdens,” Sander said.

The organization started out small. In 1987, the first year scholarships were awarded, the organization gave out $12,000 to 27 students.

Since then, the organization has grown substantially, and Call says that more funding has meant the organization has been able to increase the minimum amount of money given to each student who applies.

Last year, they gave out more than $300,000 in scholarships, and from 2015 to 2025, the average scholarship grew from $1,350 per student to almost $2,700.

Much of the organization’s growth can be attributed to word of mouth in the small island community. Personal connection binds community members to the organization’s mission, who pay it forward to new generations of Vashon High School graduates.

“We have some donors now who received scholarships thirty years ago, so there’s a new generation of people who knew about it and are becoming donors now,” Call said.

For those involved in the organization, the scholarships are about more than money; it’s a tradition that connects young people to their community.

At a recent bake sale fundraiser, Sander remembers being approached by community members who had either received money from the foundation or who had themselves donated.

“They all have these little tidbits of gratitude or memories around the scholarship foundation,” Sanders said. “It’s become something that Vashon really comes together around.”

Scarlet Hansen is a contributing journalist for The Beachcomber.