Photo: Graduation night at Sequim High School
Sequim Gazette Recognizes the OPAS Scholarships Award
Story and Photo by Rhonda Coats
(Caption: Sequim Gazette staff) Bob Boekelheide with the Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society awarded two $1,500 scholarships to Elaina Drennen and Laila Sundin.
OPAS made the news in the June 17, 2026 issue of the Sequim Gazette, featuring a photo of Bob Boekelheide, who delivered the OPAS Natural Sciences Scholarship Award 2026 to two Sequim High School winners—Elaina Drennen and Laila Sundin. OPAS was among many generous organizations and institutions at the May 20th SHS Awards Night awarding a total of more than $3.87 million in grants and scholarships to outstanding seniors in the 2026 graduating class.
Now in its third year, the OPAS award is given “in recognition of outstanding scholarship and dedication to the study of the natural sciences for the benefit of people and wildlife.” In their backgrounds and career aspirations, both 2026 recipients, Elaina and Laila, fulfill the award’s purpose.
Among her many conservation-focused endeavors, Elaina founded the SHS Environmental Club and participated in the Rotary Interact club’s Walk for Water 2025. She plans to begin her undergraduate studies in biology. She reasons that a broad major, such as biology, will provide the basis for a later specific focus to the fields of ecology or biotechnology. In addition to the OPAS award ($1,500), Elaina received the Shipley Center Fred Chan STEMM Scholarship ($24,000), a Ben Merscher Scholarship ($500), a Norma Varvil Scholarship ($2,000), and a Women’s Western Golf Foundation award ($5,000). Moreover, Elaina will receive a four-year tuition grant ($287,424) from her school, Whitman College! Congratulations, Elaina!
Standing out among the field, Laila Sundin wowed the OPAS Scholarships Committee with her resume summarizing a young life concerned for the wellbeing of people and the environment. As an environmentalist, Laila started as early as grade school volunteering at the Dungeness River Nature Center and as a learner in the NatureBridge program of Olympic National Park. In Summer 2025, as president of the Interact club, Laila motivated a group of 15 students to delve with gloves and garbage sacks into a clean-up project of the Dungeness Spit. In 2026, as ASB President, as Youth Liaison to the Sequim City Council, and as class Valedictorian with a 4.0 GPA, Laila has been honing her political, communications, and advocacy skills in preparation for a college major and eventual career in Environmental Law. In addition to the OPAS Scholarship ($1,500), Laila received the Nitterhouse Foundation Scholarship ($5,000), a Sequim Sunrise Rotary Academic Scholarship ($2,250), and a four-year tuition grant ($310,176) from the University of Chicago Police Fire Scholarship and Grants program. Outstanding, Laila!
This year OPAS gave the Natural Sciences Scholarship Award to a total of six students. (See the OPAS blog post “PA High School OPAS Scholarships” dated May 18, 2026, to learn about the four Port Angeles High School recipients.) The scholarships program is supported by the generosity of Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society through donations made by its members and others to the OPAS Scholarships Fund. If you wish to give to the fund by check, please enter Scholarships Program on the memo line. If you wish to donate online, please go to https://olympicpeninsulaaudubon.org/donate-to-our-mission; click “Dedicate this Gift” and enter Scholarships Program in the “Dedicatee’s Name” space provided. Thank you!