Mercer Island Rotary Islanders of the month
The recipients of Rotary International’s “Islander of the Month” November award are Brooke Bourguignon and Sam Sussman, seniors at Mercer Island High School.
Brooke Bourguignon is the daughter of Vince and Anna Beatty. At MIHS, she is a Bridges leader, student athletic trainer, runner on the varsity track and field team, and the Senior Service Club secretary. In the past, she played varsity soccer and was the junior captain of the track team. She is also a peer educator for Teen Council, which works with Planned Parenthood.
Bourguignon decided to study medicine at the University of Washington after a traumatic car accident, two-week coma and two-month rehabilitation at Children’s Hospital in Seattle. During her spare time, she enjoys international travel and becoming acquainted with different cultures.
Sam Sussman is the son of Allen Sussman and Melanie Wroe. He is a Bridges2 leader, a member of the National Honor Society and the team captain and MVP of the water polo team at MIHS. He is also a water polo referee and a participant on the United Water Polo Northwest Team. He has volunteered for the Boys & Girls Club, Volunteer Outreach in Communities Everywhere (VOICE) and child therapy at the Valley Medical Center.
After graduation, Sussman plans to major in biology/chemistry at the University of Washington. He hopes to become a pediatrics physician in the future.
Verschueren runs in NYC marathon
Former Islander Sean Verschueren, 21, ran the the New York City Marathon on Nov. 4. His time was 3 hours, 48 minutes and 34 seconds — good enough for 8,097 place out of more then 39,000 runners.
Verschueren was running for a charity called “Team for Kids,” which funds school-based fitness education programs for low-income kids. Many Islanders contributed to Verschueren’s fundraising efforts. Verschueren, a 2004 graduate of Mercer Island High School, was a midfielder for the 2004 championship Lacrosse team. He is now a senior at Fordham University in New York. He is pictured here after the race with his sister, Shannon, a 2002 MIHS graduate.
