Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue.
Please log in, or sign up for a new account to continue reading.
Thank you for reading! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.
Partly cloudy. High 88F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph..
Partly cloudy skies this evening. Increasing clouds with periods of showers late. Low 77F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Updated: June 9, 2025 @ 3:55 am
From left: Smitha Sonni, Dr. Rajeswari Sonni, Jalia Charlery, Austin Ulm, Brock Riley and Dr. Ashok Sonni. Charlery, Ulm and Riley are three of the four Sebring High graduates who are new scholarship recipients from the Sonni Family Foundation. The foundation celebrated its latest scholarship recipients with a lunch get together Thursday at The Olive Garden restaurant.
From left: Smitha Sonni, Dr. Rajeswari Sonni, Jalia Charlery, Austin Ulm, Brock Riley and Dr. Ashok Sonni. Charlery, Ulm and Riley are three of the four Sebring High graduates who are new scholarship recipients from the Sonni Family Foundation. The foundation celebrated its latest scholarship recipients with a lunch get together Thursday at The Olive Garden restaurant.
The Sonni Family Foundation celebrated its Class of 2025 scholarship recipients recently at a local restaurant with three of the four graduates present and a former recipient making an online appearance.
This year’s scholarship recipients, who are all from Sebring High School, are Jalia Charlery, Brock Riley, Austin Ulm and Sammi Rather.
Alexis Harris, who recently completed her dentistry schooling at the University of Florida, made an online appearance from Gainesville telling the recent graduates not to underestimate the magnitude of the scholarship, which she called a godsend.
The Sonni Family Foundation was established in 2008 through the generosity of Doctors Ashok and Rajeswari Sonni as a private charitable foundation under 501 C status.
The primary purpose of the foundation was to help in education and cultural related events in Highlands County. The foundation started giving scholarships to graduating students from public high schools who want to pursue furthering their education in state colleges and in state public universities.
Ashok and Rajeswari Sonni’s daughter, Smitha Sonni, said her parents are very passionate about education and worked hard to get where they are now. Everything else takes a back seat to supporting yourself.
The Sonni Foundation scholarship pays for things that a tuition scholarship doesn’t cover so the student doesn’t have to work 30 hours a week to cover expenses, which competes with their chance to succeed, she said.
Ashok Sonni advised that the first year in college is hard, so pace yourself. Take a minimum of courses, then once you get the hang of it, take advanced courses.
Ulm said he will be attending the University of South Florida and major in biomedical sciences. He plans to become an optometrist.
During his last two years of high school, Ulm studied at South Florida State College so he graduated with an associates degree two weeks prior to graduating from high school.
The scholarship amount is a total of $16,000 per student over four years.
A total of 52 students have been awarded scholarships from the Sonni Family Foundation. Students are interviewed by a scholarship committee and eligible candidates were chosen.
Currently there are 11 students who are actively receiving scholarships.
This year the Foundation has awarded four scholarships. A few scholarships are for only two years as some of the students chose a local college to get an AA degree.
The Sonni Family Foundation follows the progress of the scholarship recipients and reports that during the past 15 years, 14 students either dropped out of school or failed to submit the credentials so there was a loss of contact with the students, but their is a 75% rate of graduation and successful employment among the scholarship recipients.
Students have gone on to become a doctor of dentistry, physical therapist, engineers in various disciplines, nurses and advanced nurse practitioners. Also, the foundation has students who have majored in accounting and finance.
Students are encouraged to stay in touch with the scholarship committee for any kind of support and the committee encourages parents to take a role in encouraging their children so they achieve their educational goals.
{{description}}
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Unless otherwise stated, DR Media and Investments and/or licensor own the intellectual property rights for all material on DR Media and Investments. All intellectual property rights are reserved. You may view and/or print pages from http://www.d-rmedia.com/ and its affiliate sites for your own personal use subject to restrictions set in these terms and conditions.
The reuse or sharing of any story on DR Media and Investments and its affiliate sites can not be done without written consent.
Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.
We recommend switching to one of the following browsers:
