MOSES LAKE — School officials announced the scholarship list and awards for the Moses Lake Christian Academy class of 2016 at the annual Senior Awards Breakfast Friday.

The breakfast is a 40-year tradition at the school, said MLCA director Stephanie Voigt. “Just a little celebration.”

Graduation for the 17 students in the class of 2016 is Sunday.

The seniors were introduced and listed their post-high school plans. School administrators recognized the class for its athletic and academic achievements and announced the scholarships won by each student. Twelve students applied for post-high school scholarships and received $694,050 in total.

Of the 17 seniors, 15 will be attending college in the fall, Voigt said. Four will attend Big Bend Community College, while the other 11 will attend four-year colleges. Jose Solis was in the Running Start program and will graduate from BBCC this spring as well as MLCA. He plans to attend Seattle University, as does classmate Tess Hirai.

Josilyn Wakkuri has completed training as an orthodontist assistant and will be entering the workforce, Voigt said. T.J. Johnson will be part of the Endeavor program with the Moses Lake Police Department, with the intention of pursuing a career in law enforcement.

Jennie DeLeon, Hannah Suehiro, Emily Roemer and Cheyenne Wiberg will attend BBCC. Madison Ebet and Will Meiners plan to attend Washington State University; Cassiah McUne will attend Eastern Washington University and Anna Yarbro will attend the University of Idaho. Alexandria Toevs is planning to attend Western Washington University, and Kristin Seal will attend Bellevue College.

Isabella Murrell will attend Cedarville University, Cedarville Ohio; Danielle Sandberg will attend Dordt College, Sioux Center, Iowa and Noah Roberts will attend Northwest University, located near Kirkland.

The senior breakfast also included something new for 2016 – the rest of the high school, along with seventh- and eighth-graders, were invited to the awards part of the program. Voigt said the idea was to show students that preparing for life after high school begins long before junior or senior year.

“They don’t think ninth grade counts,” Voigt said, and school officials want kids to know that it does – in fact, their whole middle school and high school careers count.

The seniors walked the halls of the MLCA elementary school the previous Friday on a similar mission, showing the grade school students that school does matter, and also, Voigt said, saying goodbye to their school days.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.