Please join us in welcoming Meleah Bauman, the new Executive Director for the Hood River County Education Foundation (HRCEF). Ms. Bauman succeeds Laurie Stephens who has been the Foundation Executive Director for the past five years.

Ms. Bauman has lived in Hood River for seven years and worked as a volunteer at Westside and Hood River Middle School, as well as United Way of the Gorge. She was named 2020 Volunteer of the Year at Hood River Middle School. She coached Special Olympics Basketball, and was a
Team Parent for Hood River Youth Lacrosse.

Prior to moving to Hood River, Ms. Bauman served as a US Air Force officer, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel and managing many major projects during her 20-year military career. She was also a Program Manager for Insitu for four years. Moving to the non-profit world, with management skills she has gained in government and private industry positions, was a career goal for Ms. Bauman. “Serving students and teachers is the community that I am most passionate about,” she said.

Board President Jan Veldhuisen Virk said, “We are so pleased to have Meleah joining HRCEF. Her diverse experience and her passion for increasing educational opportunities will serve the Foundation well. At the same time, we are thanking Laurie Stephens for the tremendous job
she did in directing the Foundation with dedication and outstanding leadership.”

This month we say goodbye to our Executive Director of five years, Laurie Stephens.

Laurie leaves HRCEF in much better shape than she found it. During her tenure at HRCEF, she encouraged the HRCEF Board of Directors to develop the Reach for Excellence Gala as a major fundraising event for the Foundation. She remodeled the scholarship program, expanding it to offer more scholarships to HR Valley High School students, and improving communications with scholarship donors. She led the Foundation to support the development of an electronic portal to receive and process students’ scholarship applications. The Opportunity Fund was created during her directorship, to provide middle school sports fees for students whose families could not afford that cost.

HRCEF would not be where we are today without her hard work and dedication over the past five years. We’ll miss you, Laurie, and we wish you the best for your retirement.

HRCEF extends a hearty congratulations to the recipients of our 2021 college scholarships. This year HRCEF awarded $40,000 in scholarships to Hood River Valley HS graduates who are currently enrolled in trade schools, community colleges, and four-year degree programs.

See our full list of recipients here

This year HRCEF also awarded an additional $74,500 in renewable scholarships to awardees from previous years — bringing the total college scholarship funds awarded this year to over $114,000. Congratulations to all 2021 scholarship recipients!

Are you currently enrolled in college, or will you be a college student in the fall of 2021? Be sure to apply to our college scholarships in 2022!

We are excited to announce the HRCEF High School scholarship recipients for the HRV class of 2021. This year the Hood River County Education Foundation awarded nearly $100,000 in scholarships to our local graduating seniors.

See our complete list of recipients

Congratulations to all high school scholarship recipients and the class of 2021!