La Jolla Garden Club gives $1,000 scholarships to three horticultural students

Members of the La Jolla Garden Club helped sow the career paths of aspiring horticulturists at the group’s annual scholarship luncheon May 16 in La Jolla.

Three students from Southwestern, MiraCosta and Cuyamaca community colleges in San Diego County each received a $1,000 scholarship to further their education.

Carly Bethune, a student at MiraCosta College, earned a scholarship for a second year and is interested in “urban micro farming,” said Garden Club scholarship committee chairwoman Anne McCammon.

Bethune told the La Jolla Light that winning a second time is a “vote of confidence” in her project, which aims to establish a micro farm at her house to feed her neighbors.

Scholarship winner Kathy Waggoner from Cuyamaca College is making horticulture a second career after raising a family and working in sales, McCammon said. Her interests include nursery technology, sustainable landscapes and water management.

Waggoner told the Light that the scholarship “helps for us to go on our path and continue.”

Scholarship winner Kimberly Edwards of Southwestern College is turning to landscaping as a second career after working in architecture. She is interested in floral design, horticulture and landscape architecture, McCammon said.

Edwards could not attend the luncheon.

The scholarships are funded through the La Jolla Garden Club’s membership dues and events.

La Jolla Garden Club member Mary Mitchell (at the microphone) introduces the club’s board May 16. From left are Elizabeth Eade, Claudia Chan-Shaffer, Pam Filley, Bonnie Zoe Winn and Becky Carcova. Not pictured is Barbara Hand.

(Elisabeth Frausto)

The Garden Club, founded in 1968, meets monthly from September to May. To learn more, visit lajollagardenclub.org. ◆