Last night's general membership meeting kicked off with Secretary-Treasurer Thompson awarding the 2014 Jeff Alfieri Scholarship to four ambitious and talented young women.  

Samantha Haley, Gabrielle Hickok, Madison Budinich, and Monica Szelachowski received this year's honors after demonstrating academic excellence, determination, and drive in the scholarship application process. 

• Samantha, a senior at Rainier High School, plans to pursue a bachelor's degree in biology and ultimately a doctorate in veterinarian medicine at Washington State University. Her father, William Haley, is a member at Golden State Foods. 
• Madison, whose father, Thomas Budinich, works at Franz Bakery, intends to pursue a pre-medicine and linguistics degree at the University of Washington.
• Monica will use her scholarship award to continue her studies of acupuncture and oriental medicine as a student at Bastyr University.  Her father, Michael Gwerder, is a member at Lineage.
• Gabrielle plans to study civil and environmental engineering at the University of Washington.  In her application, Gabrielle writes:  "I value the Union and their mission within the community.  My father, Kevin Hickok, has been with Local 117 for over 34 years, and I always hear from him how grateful and indebted he is to the Union."  

Congratulations to the award recipients and special thanks to the Alfieri family for generously founding the scholarship award in honor of their son Jeff, a former Local 117 Business Representative.   

The Local 117 Jeff Alfieri scholarship of up to $2000 is awarded to outstanding students whose parents are members of Teamsters Local 117.