Pictured above: Melissa Grant holds a photo of April Woods.<\/em><\/h5>\nSAN MARCOS \u2014 For two and a half decades, April Woods was a steadfast student advocate at Palomar College, a counselor and educator who dedicated herself to helping others pursue their goals, leaving her mark on many lives and forging countless friendships at Palomar.<\/p>\n
As of this year, her legacy will also live on in the form of the April Christine Woods Memorial Scholarship, a $100,000 endowment to support students who want to travel as part of their educational journey.<\/p>\n
In 2016, Woods was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer. Four months after her diagnosis, in March 2017, Woods passed away at the age of 51.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe could help a student know what to do, from the moment they walked into Palomar until they were ready to transfer,\u201d said Melissa Grant, one of Woods\u2019 closest friends and an employee at the college. \u201cShe didn\u2019t just give students a quick run-through, she told them what they could expect, from start to finish.<\/p>\n
\u201cApril believed that everybody had their own purpose,\u201d Grant added. \u201cEverybody was worthwhile, in April\u2019s eyes. And she had a love for education that she loved to share with other people. It was contagious.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Feb. 12, the Palomar College Governing Board honored Woods, as Stacy Rungaitis, Executive Director of the Palomar College Foundation, accepted a $100,000 check to establish the scholarship in Woods\u2019 name.<\/p>\n
Grant said the scholarship will award up to $10,000 per year, up to $1,000 per student, and can be divided in smaller amounts among as many students as necessary.<\/p>\n
Recipients must be enrolled at Palomar during the semester awarded, and the funds must be used for student travel within six months of application for the purpose of \u201cenhancing a student\u2019s educational objectives.\u201d The travel doesn\u2019t have to be part of an official study-abroad program, Grant explained, but it does have to have an educational purpose, set forth in a required short essay.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/50\/2019\/03\/April-Woods-scholarship-1-of-1-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Woods\u2019 husband, Jerry Vetack, said he was glad to see her being recognized for her accomplishments and generosity. The theme of the scholarship, he said, reflects Woods\u2019 own passion for travel\u2014and for the importance of travel in a life of learning.<\/p>\n
\u201cApril traveled as a student,\u201d he said. \u201cShe went to Spain and Mexico and … had always thought about those trips as very valuable to her to become fluent in Spanish. Whenever she had a free moment, she traveled.\u201d<\/p>\n
Woods also loved students.<\/p>\n
Vetack recalled one telling moment during a trip to Paris, riding to one of the city\u2019s museums.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe heard four students near us talking about college, and of course, April being who she was, she started talking to them about their majors, what they should do, and so on,\u201d he said. \u201cShe actually exchanged emails with these students.\u201d<\/p>\n
Palomar alumna Monique De Monte remembers the first time she met Woods, in 1998: \u201cI was walking around campus with my son in the stroller, and I saw her at a table the counselors had set up. She helped me select my classes, and thanks to April, I went on to obtain a bachelor\u2019s degree at Cal State San Marcos, and a master\u2019s from San Diego State.\u201d<\/p>\n
De Monte said it was fitting that there will be a scholarship at Palomar College from now on with Woods\u2019 name on it.<\/p>\n
\u201cPalomar was a big part of her life, and it doesn\u2019t surprise me at all that she left $100,000 for scholarships,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
April Woods, who taught and counseled at Palomar College for 25 years, lost her battle with cancer in 2017. Now there is a travel scholarship in her name, thanks to a $100,000 bequest to the Palomar College Foundation. Pictured above: Melissa Grant holds a photo of April Woods. SAN MARCOS \u2014 For two and a… \u00a0Continue Reading: Beloved counselor lives on in $100,000 bequest<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10413,"featured_media":3573,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19,9,23,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-carousel","category-features","category-home","category-slider"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBeloved counselor lives on in $100,000 bequest - Palomar News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/april-woods-scholarship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Beloved counselor lives on in $100,000 bequest - Palomar News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"April Woods, who taught and counseled at Palomar College for 25 years, lost her battle with cancer in 2017. 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