Archive for the ‘Scholarship Dress’ Category

Julia Kilgore, owner and operator of The Yellow Rose in Old Town, is passionate about helping young Hispanic girls reach their full potential through higher learning.
Last week, she hosted an after-hours award presentation of her annual “Gloria Dress” scholarship where Mayor Diana Preston and several other local business owners from the Lilburn Business Association (LBA) were in attendance.
Since opening her doors in 2008, Kilgore has given away one formal gown each year to a local female senior as a way to honor her sister Gloria’s memory.
After dropping out of high school, Gloria achieved her GED and then her college degree while raising a family and working full-time. She succumbed to cancer in her early 40’s but not before becoming a major source of inspiration to her sister, Julia.
The winner of the annual “Gloria Dress” scholarship must be a local female high school senior of Hispanic origin who has maintained a 3.5 grade point average and has confirmed plans to attend college.
Congratulations to this year’s winner, Indira Bertarioni!
ertarioni is currently a senior at Parkview High School who took the initiative, applied for and met all of the requirements to win this scholarship from The Yellow Rose.
She plans to attend Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., in the fall and has decided to major in Psychology. She was thrilled to discover that her hard work in school had resulted in a free prom dress of her choice.
The senior prom is coming up in just a few weeks and Bertarioni is looking forward to attending in her beautiful black evening gown with sequins tastefully sewn into the bodice. There is an additional smaller cluster of sequins sewn into the skirt creating gathers that flow gracefully down the side of the gown.
Not only will Indira receive the beautiful dress from Julia, yet another Lilburn Business Association member, Mary Marder, owner of Freesia Floral Design, will be providing the corsage and matching boutonnière to compliment the dress.

I was so pleased with last year’s recipient of the Gloria Dress that I seriously considered working with the same high school to find another deserving junior or senior for this award. However, after I became aware of Jeanie’s story, I knew she would be a fitting recipient of the Gloria Dress. Jeanie and her family have faced a difficult year but Jeanie continues to smile and be a good example for her family and her peers. Here is her story, in her own words:I am truly thankful that The Yellow Rose chose me for this scholarship. I am grateful to have heard the inspiring story of Mrs. Kilgore’s sister, who overcame her own tribulations and continued even when the going got tough. Hearing Gloria’s story made me reminisce on this past year and the very hard experiences I’ve gone through with my youngest brother. Gloria’s story has shown me that it’s possible to succeed at anything when you set your mind and heart to it.

My youngest sibling, Jason, almost died last year in a pool accident. He fell into the water when no one else was looking. My family and I found him face down in the water. We pulled him out and because I had recently learned CPR at my church’s girls camp, I tried to perform it on Jason to the best of my abilities. Thankfully I managed to get a slight pulse back. Jason was taken to the hospital where he was in a coma for a few weeks. It took some time and many prayers, but he eventually recovered fully. This has been one of the hardest experiences of my life and it has reinforced my testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ immensely. I thank my Heavenly Father for the tremendous miracle that he allowed in not only my family’s life, but the lives of many others.

I come from a modest Honduran family and I am grateful for the blessing of living in this country and the many opportunities I have for gaining an education. I currently have a 4.0 GPA and I’m involved in various extracurricular activities such as playing soccer for the Junior Varsity team at South Gwinnett High School. This past soccer season I received the Coach’s award for being the player who most exhibited a positive attitude and always pushed to do her best. I’m also in Beta Club and S.L.E.D (Student Leadership Ethics Development) and these clubs have taught me a lot about how to be a leader and how to make the community a better place. In addition to my academic classes, I also attend early-morning church seminary and it is my favorite part of the day. I love being able to start off my day with a spiritual uplift. I’ve been taught by my parents that having an education is extremely important and I work hard to achieve my academic goals. After I graduate high school I hope to continue my education at Brigham Young University.