FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 19, 2020
CONTACT: Kimberly Aguilar, (805) 341-4689
Compass Charter Schools (CCS) Celebrates Lyric Hearne-Hooker, 2020 Carson Scholar Fund Award Winner
Thousand Oaks, CA – Compass Charter Schools (CCS) of Los Angeles celebrates Lyric Hearne-Hooker, a 2020 Carson Scholar Fund Award winner! Hearne-Hooker will be awarded a $1,000 scholarship award towards her college education. Carson Scholars must have a minimum GPA of 3.75 and display humanitarian qualities through community service.
Hearne-Hooker hopes to call herself a global citizen one day. She loves the diversity of living in Los Angeles and being able to walk everywhere. She plans to pursue a career in science, literacy, and fashion journalism. She hopes to make a positive difference, whatever path she chooses.
“CCS is very proud of Lyric! As a Compass family, we are committed to offering each scholar the support they need to achieve success,” said J.J. Lewis, CCS Superintendent and CEO. “Lyric is such a bright and driven Compass scholar. She continues to impress with her January Scholar of the Month, Firebird of the Year, and now Carson Scholar Award. We are very proud of this kind and generous young lady.”
As a 10 grader, Hearne-Hooker is on the Scholarship Leadership Council, President of the Virtual Field Trip Club, Dance Club, and Photography Club. She has been on the honor roll for four years and she was recently accepted into the National Honor Society. Hearne-Hooker also won the coveted Magizooligist award at Barnes and Noble for the Harry Potter Trivia Battle.
“We are grateful to Mataya Olson, College and Career Readiness Counselor at Compass for recommending Lyric for this scholarship opportunity,” shared parents Jennifer Hearne and Curtis Hooker. “To date, Lyric has nearly 100 hours of volunteer service, and she has been on the honor roll for the past four years. We are very proud of all her hard work and her positive attitude. Lyric has been very satisfied with her experience at Compass since leaving a brick and mortar school. We are grateful to the Compass family for giving her the educational opportunities that she could not receive elsewhere.”
Hearne-Hooker loves to learn new ideas about fashion on Pinterest. She has an Etsy shop that focuses on green retail, with paper goods and recycled products. She also loves to skateboard, help with park clean-up, and is a big Dodgers fan. She is on the teen council at the Fairfax Library and can often be found at the West Hollywood Library.
“Wonder Woman is my role model. She might seem like an antiquated, not very modern role model for a young person, but in my opinion, she is relevant for all the above reasons,” shared Hearne-Hooker. “She is living history and pop-culture (especially if you study her evolution from the 1940s to the present day). She came from a sheltered, tiny island that was not part of the industrialized, patriarchal world and had to adapt to a fast-paced life as both a private citizen and as a superhero. Wonder Woman represents the limitless possibilities for women of all ages; with her super strength, intellect, sense of duty and selflessness, global background, and even her style, she manages to encapsulate all my values and dreams of being a well-balanced and service-minded global citizen of the future.”
About the Carson Scholars Fund
The Carson Scholars Fund was founded in 1994 to address the education crisis in the United States. When now-retired world-renowned Johns Hopkins Pediatric Neurosurgeon Benjamin S. Carson, M.D. and his wife, Candy, read a research study about education in the United States, they were alarmed by the findings. The study showed that our nation’s students ranked #21 out of 22 countries. Furthermore, the Carsons observed that many school display cases were filled with large trophies paying tribute to their sports teams’ achievements, while honor students only received a pin or certificate.
In 1996, the first year that scholarships were awarded, 25 deserving students were recognized as scholars. Through the generosity of our donors and partners, they now award more than 500 scholarships annually. Scholars are awarded an Olympic-sized medal and a trophy for their school to celebrate their accomplishments.
About Compass Charter Schools
Compass Charter Schools (CCS) is a WASC-accredited virtual personalized learning public charter school serving thousands of scholars throughout the state. Catering to TK-12 grade scholars, CCS offers two personalized learning programs. CCS is committed to creating a collaborative virtual learning community, inspiring scholars to appreciate the ways in which arts and sciences nurture a curiosity for lifelong learning and preparing scholars to take responsibility for their future successes.
For more information about CCS, visit www.compasscharters.org, via Twitter (https://twitter.com/CompassCs), on Facebook(https://www.facebook.com/CompassCS/) or on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/compasscs/).
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