SANDPOINT — With the help of the community, five Lake Pend Oreille High School students are a step closer to achieving their dreams and goals for the future.

As graduation approaches and the LPOHS seniors prepare to head to college in the fall, Abby Daily, Delaney Tibbetts, Abbi Peterson, Christian Breen and Paieton Allen were awarded more than $15,000 in local scholarships on Thursday.

“We are thankful for the community that surrounds the school, that supports us and lifts us up in many ways,” said LPOHS Principal Geoff Penrose. “We are thankful also that they help lift some of our students up after they leave us by helping them finance whatever dream they found while they were here at Lake Pend Oreille High School.”

The groups who awarded scholarships to LPOHS students this year include the Ambrosiani-Pastore Foundation, Beta Sigma Phi, Community Assistance League, Rotary Club of Ponderay, Fraternal Order of the Eagles, and PEO Chapter 5.

The seniors were also awarded scholarships from the school’s Dorothy Adler Memorial Fund, available only to LPOHS students.

“The hard work you put in to writing these scholarships and applying, it really does pay off,” said LPOHS counselor Deb Osborn, congratulating the students after she announced the Dorothy Adler recipients.

During Thursday’s award ceremony, which was followed by the school’s annual end-of-year barbecue, Penrose thanked a number of other organizations who contribute to the school in various ways as well, including Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeeper, Pend Oreille Arts Council, Bonner Community Food Bank, Food For Our Children and Bonner General Health.

“We appreciate all of the community members who support our students,” Penrose said.

The five teens, as well as many of this year’s 38 graduates, have a variety of plans for the future. Daily, for example, is heading to North Idaho College in the fall, where she will begin her education toward a doctorate in neuropsychology. Ultimately, she said, she wants to become a mental health counselor. She is looking at possibly transferring to University of Idaho after two years at NIC, though she also wants to venture out and explore other places, she said.

Daily said she has attended LPOHS for about a year and a half, and actually finished early, completing her credits in January. Going to the alternative school motivated her to get things done, because of how the teachers go above and beyond for the students. Daily said she had not always received that kind of encouragement from others.

“The teachers here really help encourage all of their students,” she said, choking up with emotion as she spoke about the teachers who gave her so much. “It’s crazy how you can literally go from feeling like nothing to everything, because they give you that.”

“They make you feel like there is nothing you can’t do,” her mom, Sherrie Daily, added.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.