On May 30, the Northwest Glendale Lions Club awarded two $1000 scholarships to special needs students Carlos Martinez of Glendale Community College and Rogoberto Perez of Hoover High School at a luncheon at Shaker’s Restaurant.

Though 21-year-old Martinez has been blind since he was 3 years old, it has not stopped him from maintaining a 3.5 grade point average at GCC. He is a member of the speech and debate team and volunteers at the Blind Children’s Center. Martinez will graduate from GCC in the fall and hopes to attend UCLA or Cal State Northridge to major in clinical psychology.

Perez graduated this month from Hoover. He is visually impaired and requires special corrective lenses. He has a 2.7 GPA. His favorite subjects are history and math, and he plans to attend GCC in the fall. Afterwards he hopes to attend a four-year school and major in engineering.

Presentation of the awards was made by club scholarship chairman Ryan Nekota and Lion Ted Walters. Special guests included parents, school counselors and GUSD board member Greg Krikorian.

The scholarships were made possible by contributions of Lions members and friends. One scholarship was provided by the Roy Biederman Scholarship Fund and the other by the general scholarship fund.

Northwest Glendale Lions have awarded more than $78,000 in scholarships in the 25 years since the program was initiated.