The Marcus Foster Scholarship Endowment is given in honor of Dr. Marcus Foster, an educator who served as the first black Superintendent of Oakland Unified School District. In 1973, while serving as Superintendent of Schools, members of the SLA assassinated Dr. Foster. ACSA established a Marcus Foster Memorial Annual Award to honor Dr. Foster and those educators who take risks to improve educational opportunities, practice an inclusive management style and are willing to try new ideas to reach out to students. In 2018, a member of the Antelope Valley Chapter, Region XV, of ACSA received the Marcus Foster Memorial Award along with a $5,000 check which seeded this scholarship. The AV Chapter along with those in attendance at the 2018 ACSA Awards banquet donated another $5,000 to complete funding of the endowment.
The 2021 recipient of the Marcus Foster Scholarship Endowment is Ashely Carrasco, a senior at Eastside High School, part of the Antelope Valley Union High School District. Ashley plans on attending Antelope Valley College majoring in Child & Family Education. She has participated and volunteered in the Migrant Education Program and is an AVID student who loves working with children. Her volunteer work in the Migrant Education Program included teaching preschoolers “how to paint, read, and use scissors.” She reports “it’s an experience I will never forget. Not only did I teach them something, but they taught me a few things; this really inspired me to pursue a career in education.” As a volunteer at her local elementary school, she helps student use their imagination through “creating anything out of Lego pieces.” She is a member of the school band and has been trained as a Link Crew Leader. She explains that “being a Link Crew Leader has helped me encourage those students who felt lost or needed an extra hand. During the pandemic, I called about 15-20 freshmen to tell them I was a Link Crew Leader at EHS, and I was willing to help them with anything!”
Mrs. Kingston, Ashley’s AVID teacher, writes, “Ashley is bright, humble, thoughtful and has a positive attitude. She is a great team leader in her small study groups; I am impressed with her attention to detail and her due diligence. She has the capacity to excel in college and beyond.”