Three Student-Athletes Receive SCC's 2021 Don MacKenzie Scholarships
Long Beach City College women's soccer player Kimberly Izarraras, Mt. San Antonio swimmer Valerie Chen, and Cerritos men's basketball player Joshua Harrison are this year's recipients of the annual South Coast Conference Don MacKenzie Scholarships. The SCC will award the three student-athletes $1,000 each.
The MacKenzie Scholarships annually go to student-athletes who exhibit strong academics and high performance on the field of play. In several cases, the student-athletes chosen are ones who also have overcome obstacles and involve themselves in community service. The awards honor the memory of MacKenzie, the long-time SCC commissioner from 1979 until his passing in 2004.
Harrison is the first Cerritos men's athlete to receive the honor since a men's and women's recipient have been selected each year when the the awards were first issued in 2007. Izarraras and Chen are the first women's co-recipients in the history of the MacKenzie Scholarships.
With a 3.7 GPA, Izarraras completed two AA degrees in biological and physical sciences at LBCC and is transferring to Long Beach State University as a biochemistry major. Although her playing career is ending at the community college level, Izarraras was an accomplished player as an All-SCC Second Team midfielder for the Vikings in 2019. In March, the 3C4A, an association of California Community College counselors and advisors for athletics, named Izarraras its 2020 Female Achievement Award winner.
She said in her application to the SCC scholarship committee that "My plan is to get a career in research, be able to call myself a Hispanic and woman in STEM. I'm working very hard to make that happen."
Chen, who earned an AA degree in sociology, will major in that subject as she transfers to UCLA. She competed for the Mounties swim team in two abbreviated seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and earlier this year. Participating at the Western State Conference swim finals at Cuesta College (Mt. SAC participated as the only South Coast school to opt-in to sports in the 2021 short season), Chen won the 100-yard breaststroke (1:12.24) and 200 breaststroke (2:33) events (2:33). She also took second in both the 200 individual medley (2:22.49) and 50 butterfly (27.66).
Chen did community service as a volunteer at a pet shelter and earned the Mt. SAC's "Student of Distinction Award."
Harrison earned an AA degree in business administration, and will carry that major (concentrating in finance and marketing) to his next destination as a scholarship-athlete for NAIA Westcliff University in Irvine. He is the first in his family to become a college student and volunteers at the Southwest Gospel Ministry to Children as well as serving as a youth basketball coach.
A team captain for the Falcons, he helped Cerritos win a SCC Co-South Division title in 2019-20. Born in Redlands, the 6-foot-3 guard played his prep basketball as an All-District player at Onate High in New Mexico. After joining the Cerritos program in 2017, he mourned the loss of his father from a heart attack in 2018, then stepped away from basketball for a year before returning for the '19-20 season. He averaged 5.3 points a game as a key player off the Falcons bench.
A finalist for the men's award was Mt. SAC baseball player Caleb Ellis, who earned a scholarship to play and attend Cal State Dominguez Hills. Ellis was a 2019 All-SCC First Team selection as an outfielder and volunteered at the Mark Cresse School Baseball Camps and Charity at Angels Stadium in 2018 and 2019.
Long Beach Athletic Coordinator Melody Stockwell once again served as the SCC's MacKenzie Scholarship committee chairman and her volunteer work has been vital to both the application and selection process the past few years.
LIST OF PAST DON MACKENZIE SCHOLARSHIP AWARD WINNERS