5/2/13
image004St. Edward’s University
$5,000
Fair Employee Scholarship

“Since I was six, I’ve worked hard to give myself the best education to achieve my goals. Thanks to the Don Diego scholarship, I’ll be able to afford college.”

Del Mar, CA … Vista resident Brooke Buckley will graduate in June with a 3.88 GPA from Rancho Buena Vista High School, then head to St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas with the support of a $5,000 college scholarship from the Don Diego Scholarship Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the San Diego County Fair. She and the other three 2013 scholarship recipients will be recognized at the Don Diego Steve Miller Band Dinner and Concert Gala taking place on June 15, 2013 at the Fair. Tickets are available at dondiegoscholarship.org.

Brooke says she is ecstatic to win the scholarship in the Fair employee category, which will help her and her mother, Lori Buckley, a teacher at Washington Middle School, cover out-of-state tuition. “When I came home from school and my grandmother said, ‘Congratulations!’ I was so surprised and happy. I’ve worked very hard all my life to go to college. That’s been my focus since I was six years old. I am very thankful for the scholarship. It’s so nice to know I’ll be able to afford college.”

People who know Brooke well are not surprised that she won amid stiff competition. In addition to excelling academically in a rigorous curriculum of Honors, Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes throughout her four years of high school, Brooke participated and held leadership roles in cheerleading, dance, track and field, best buddies and the natural high club. She organized a group of students to make positive changes at Vista Unified School District, even making a presentation to the Board of Trustees. She volunteers in community service activities and has worked every summer since 2009 at the Fair, where her grandmother, Carolyn Buckley, has served for 25 years. When faced with a learning curve at her Fair job, Brooke dug in, reasoning, “What’s success without a challenge?!”

Saying her mom is her inspiration and role model, Brooke confides, “I come from success. I come from motivation. I come from high expectations. All my life, my mother has told me that I can do great things. Now, with further education, I will be prepared for an outstanding career as an orthopedic surgeon or a psychiatrist.”

She concludes, “I, Brooke Buckley, have set myself up for complete success.”

Don Diego Executive Director Chana Mannen says, “Brooke Buckley is a buoyant, positive and ambitious young woman. Her combination of youthful exuberance and maturity will serve her well at college and in her career. She is precisely the kind of student our Foundation was created to support.”