Rotary Club of Gaithersburg
For Immediate Release
For Information, contact Kenneth Weiss, phone 301-947-8150,
email weissfam@aol.com
EIG SCHOLARSHIP
AWARDED TO OUTSTANDING STUDENT
In the awards ceremony at Gaithersburg High School on May 23rd, Mr. Tom Breece, President-elect of the Gaithersburg Rotary Club, awarded the
Sam and Ester Eig Scholarship. The recipient was Ms. Caelyn Sommerville.
Sam and Ester Eig left an important legacy in Montgomery County. Mr. Eig was an immigrant from Russia who
earned considerable money from real estate transactions and donated much of it to religious and other institutions in the Silver Spring area. He later moved to the Gaithersburg area where he built the Washingtonian Hotel and country
club, complete with two golf courses, near the intersection of what is now Route 270 and Shady Grove Road. He also built the Washingtonian Towers, which still exist, and the Shady Grove Music Fair. His name is perpetuated by the Sam Eig Highway.
Mr. Eig was a benefactor of the Gaithersburg Chamber of
Commerce, the Rotary Club and other civic organizations, some of which met for several years in one of his properties. During Mr. his lifetime, he donated money to the Rotary Club to be used for an annual scholarship for a graduating high school senior.
Criteria for awarding the scholarship include academic
performance, extracurricular activities, future goals and financial need. The winner is selected via personal interviews from a field of ten outstanding candidates.
This year’s winner, Caelin Sommerville, is an outstanding
scholar and has an even more outstanding record of extracurricular activities, especially in music and drama. She has played the lead in several musical productions and sang at the retirement reception for MCPS Superintendent Dr. Jerry Weast as well as in a meeting of supervisors and administrators held by incoming Superintendent, Dr. Joshua Starr. She has done volunteer work with a
variety of organizations including the NAACP, Asbury Methodist Village, and Mother Seton Roman Catholic Church.
The Rotary Club of Gaithersburg was formed in 1996 and plays an active role in the life of the community. It now meets for lunch on Tuesdays in the Hilton Hotel and is part of a family of more than 33,000 Rotary clubs in nearly every country of the world.
