The Marcus Foster Scholarship Endowment is given in honor of Dr. Marcus Foster, an educator who served as the first black superintendent of Oakland Unified School District. In 1973, while serving as Superintendent of Schools, members of the SLA assassinated Foster. ACSA established the Marcus Foster Memorial Award for Administrator Excellence to honor Foster and those educators who take risks to improve educational opportunities, practice an inclusive management style and are willing to try new ideas to reach out to students.

In 2018, 2021 and 2022 members of ACSA Antelope Valley Chapter Stacy Bryant, Raul Maldonado and Regina Rossall were named as recipients of the Marcus Foster Memorial Award for Administrator Excellence. Recipients are asked to award a high school senior with a $5,000 scholarship funded by ACSA. The first $5,000 donated by ACSA seeded an endowment at Antelope Valley College. With additional donations from ACSA Antelope Valley Chapter administrators and those in attendance at the 2018 ACSA Awards banquet, funding of the $10,000 endowment was completed. Maldonado (2021) and Rossall (2022) each added their $5,000 award to the corpus. As a result, the Marcus Foster Scholarship Endowment at Antelope Valley College will be awarded to a high school senior in perpetuity.

The 2023 recipient of the Marcus Foster Scholarship Endowment is Jolene Miramontes, a senior at Coachella Valley High School. Her plan is to play softball at Antelope Valley College in the fall, earning her Associate of Arts degree, then transfer to a four-year university where she plans to earn a degree that would allow her to work as an elementary school teacher. Jolene says she is “looking forward to being at AVC to start my education” and playing softball for the Marauders.

High school teacher Renee Vargas said Jolene’s has demonstrated responsibility, a strong work ethic and leadership, especially during group projects.

“Jolene has become the effortless leader in the group all while showcasing her expertise in collaboration. She makes sure her group members understand the project and meet their deadlines,” Vargas said. “In addition to working in a team, Jolene holds herself accountable in everything she does. She is on top of all her assignments and her grades to ensure everything is accounted for.”