The student awardees were dressed in formal attire and looked very good. The awards included scholarships ranging from hundreds of dollars to twenty thousand dollars. Scholarship donor categories included former Belmont High students and/or faculty, such as the Jack Smith Memorial Scholarship. Smith, a Belmont Alum who is also a renowned L.A. Times Columnist. The Dentler Erdmann Scholarship. Erdmann was a longtime Belmont teacher who retired a few years ago, and in addition to being named “Mr. Belmont” also had the school’s Athletic Field named in his honor. Jack Durgerian is an alum from the class of 1944. The Sheldon Mehr Music Scholarship is named after a Belmont music teacher and author. The Belmont Booster Club Athletic Scholarship was re-established last year and awarded cash scholarships to a male and female athlete for the first time. The Alumni Association Scholarships are regular contributors.
Many students received Scholarships/Grants, medals, and awards from various Universities, Colleges, Associations, Businesses, Organizations, Individuals, and Belmont Academic Departments. While listing each student who received an award is not feasible for this article (some students received awards in multiple categories) some of them are listed here: Valedictorian – Gwang Neung Kim, Salutatorian – Joshua Park, Mei Ngan Kwan, Xinhui Yu, – Alumni Assn., Jazmin Vazquez Monroy – Jack Durgerian Award, Ricardo Monterrubio – Dentler Erdmann Award, Richard Kent – Morrie Katz Award, Paola Santos – Lillian Krumholz Award, Cesar Ube – Sheldon Mehr Award, Graciela Espinoza – Jack Smith Award, Jessica Kim, Ricardo Monterrubio, – Belmont Booster Club Award, and Maria Escamilla – McCammon Award. Congratulations to the entire Belmont Staff, volunteers, parents, community, scholarship donors, and students.