Jan Bergkamp was awarded the Assent Champion Adult Role Model of the Year award for her volunteer efforts to help students receive college scholarship funds at the first annual Youth Assets Building Conference, which was held last Saturday at the Community Cultural Center in Morgan Hill.
Bergkamp, a Live Oak College and Career Center/Scholarship Coordinator who has been assisting Live Oak students for more than 10 years, helped seniors get awarded more than $1.2 million in scholarship money for college. She assisted Abrianna Robles in receiving $40,000 in scholarships to attend Duke University.
“She gives so much of herself in order to encourage the students to work hard so they may reap the benefits after they graduate,” Robles said. “Mrs. Bergkamp was an essential part of my senior year, as a scholarship counselor, life mentor, and caring friend.”
Bergkamp, considered a “counselor, mentor, teacher and friend to the students at Live Oak,” also donates her time as the adviser for the Interact Club and student mentor at Rotary speech contests and other fundraising activities.